celebrate the wonder...

Hey friends!!  The long weekend here in the US is over and school starts this week... my ten year old is not excited, lol!!   Yesterday I got some more time to do a little crafting and came up with this little Christmas card.  The amazingly talented Jill Foster shared two cards on the Simon Says Stamp blog using a really cool coloring technique (Jill has a video on her blog showing the technique in full) and some beautiful Penny Black brushstroke stamps.  The technique looked like something I could do and so I gave it a try.  The resulting card was my first attempt and I love how it turned out.  Can't wait to try this technique, again!!  Jill used Tombow markers for the technique   I have a small set of Tombows and so I used the pink one from the set to color up the Penny Black "red star" stamp.  I used my MISTI as Jill suggested and it worked like a charm.  I colored up the main portion of the image with the pink marker, stamped it on some watercolor paper and then blended the color out with water.  The center of the flower and the pine boughs were similarly colored, stamped and blended with water.  I had a light yellow Tombow marker that I used for the center of the poinsettia, but it was too light and so I went over it with a Ranger Wild Honey distress marker.  I let the image dry and then this morning added a bit more color by scribbling a Barn Door distress marker on my craft mat, adding in some water and brushing it on.  The background around the image was added using the same method and a Scattered Straw distress marker.  To finish I flicked on some additional Barn Door ink and some clear Wink of Stella.  The sentiment is from the Penny Black clear set called "the Wonder".  I simply mounted the trimmed down panel on a light grey cardstock base and added some off white twine.  I'm adding this to the current Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge to "stamp it", the Penny Black Saturday challenge of nature and the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge of anything goes.  Here is a close up that sort of shows the glitter from the Wink of Stella

Hope you have a wonderful day...


Supplies:  Cardstock:  SSS fog, Ranger watercolor paper; Stamps:  Penny Black; Ink:  VersaFine Onyx Black; Watercolor medium:  Tombow and Ranger Distress Ink markers; Clear Wink of Stella; white twine

spring flowers...

Hey friends!!  Popping in with a card that I made for the current Penny Black Saturday Challenge - spring flowers.  My in real life friend, Greta, is one of the design team members for the PBSC and it has been my goal since she joined the team to play along... finally that day has come, lol!!  I'm also going to post this to Less is More - yellow and green.

I bought this gorgeous Penny Black stamp Botanical Notes ages ago and had never inked it.  No one makes collage stamps quite like Penny Black!  I inked up the stamp with Memento Rich Cocoa and colored it with Copic markers.  I have to work some more on my coloring skills, but I really like how the flower turned out.  The butterfly was stamped a second time, colored and trimmed out.  I attached it and then added a little coating of Crystal Stickles to the center of the butterfly, as well as the center of the flower.   I mounted it on a grey card base as I think it makes the colors pop a little more than a plain white card base.  Decided not to put a sentiment on it... maybe I will at a later date.

Have a happy day...

Supplies:  Cardstock:  Recollections white; SU! grey; Stamp:  Penny Black; Ink:  Memento; Copic Markers; Crystal Stickles

Blue Star...

Hi Ya!  Here with a card for the new Less is More challenge to use the color blue and not just one shade of blue, but several.  So when I started thinking about what I would do I knew that I would probably be using my distress inks for my card.  Then I went cruising around the blog-o-sphere and stopped for a moment at Penny Black challenge blog (#158) and saw that the challenge is to use your most favorite Penny Black stamp... one you would take to a deserted island.  Well... for me that stamp is the PB Christmas Star!  I adore that stamp and have done lots of other things with it besides make Christmas cards.   So, I had my colors and my stamp and so I got to work.

I stamped the Christmas Star twice on white cardstock using VersaMark watermark ink, applied clear embossing powder and then heat set.  I then got out my distress inks (Broken China, Faded Jeans and Chipped Saphire) and did some distressing using the emboss/resist method.  The two stars were trimmed out and the one inked with Faded Jeans and Chipped Saphire was cut in half.  I adhered the two pieces the white cardstock slightly apart and then the one inked with Broken China and a touch of Faded Jeans was adhered on top.  Some SU! glass glitter in Baja Breeze was added to the center.  I stamped the "to You" portion of the PB sentiment "to You from Me" in the corner and added the rhinestones.  I will be putting this card into the Penny Black Saturday challenge, as well as Less is More.

Thanks for taking a peek....

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white; SU! Night of Navy; Ink:  VersaMark, Ranger Distress Inks; SU! Not Quite Navy marker; Stamps:  Penny Black; Glass Glitter:  Stampin Up!; Gems:  Hero Arts

Spring Has Sprung...

Well... at least on my card!!   Here in the Pacific Northwest (Washington State to be exact) spring is trying really hard to arrive with flower popping out all over the place, but sunshine and warmer weather have yet to make an appearance!  So... I guess I will have to be happy with making spring-like cards.

My card today is for the Flourishes challenge "Spring Has Sprung" as well as the Penny Black Saturday challenge "Flowers".   I used an image from the Penny Black set "Flowers & Wishes" for my card and colored it with Copic markers (B00, B02, B05, YG03, YG06, Y11 & Y13) to correspond with the color palette for the Flourishes challenge.  For once I didn't use a white cardstock base, but used a retired SU! green called Gable Green.  The other cardstock is from PaperTrey Ink (white, Lemon Tart & Spring Rain).   Since I hadn't used ribbon on anything in a few days I just had to put some on this card!

Thanks for taking a peek... hope spring has arrived in your neighborhood!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  PTI white, Lemon Tart & Spring Rain; SU! Gable Green; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black & Summer Sky; Stamps:  Penny Black Flowers & Wishes; Hero Arts gems, PTI Lemon Tart ribbon; Copic Markers; Fiskars Upper Crust punch; Sizzix embossing folder