Anniversary Peacock Fan & Awards

Good Morning Crafters!   I've had an exciting few Blogging days !

On Friday I was thrilled to learn that I earned the Lovely Lotus Award from  For Your Inspiration  for their Photo Challenge #27.   Thank you ladies ! 

Yesterday evening I was honored a second time with the Liebster Blog Award from Maria at  Crafty Maria's Stamping World .    Maria is a Stampin' Up Demonstrator who also teaches classes and has a terrific Blog full of ideas, tutorials & beautiful cards.    Needless to say, I was excited to receive this award again so recently after receiving it the first time (when I forwarded it on to 5 others)   Thank you Maria !

And finally, I'm happy that I have many new Followers and would like to thank all of you for your visits & comments.  Without all of you, blogging would not be so rewarding.  I also enjoy visiting at your Blogs where I gather a lot of inspiration !

Now onto a new creation !    A friend asked me to create a card that she will give to her daughter & son-in-law for their First Wedding Anniversary.    Their Wedding theme was Peacock Feathers, and she asked that the design include Peacock feathers and the colours Emerald Green, Red & Purple.

I used stamps from Chocolate Baroque to create this card.  The two stamp sets:  Peacock Fan & Artistic Expressions.

The purple strip on the LH side was created by blending Grape Soda,  Sugar Berry & Gold Lame Smooch Inks and then I stamped one of the feathers from the Peacock Fan set with ColorBox Gold Pigment Ink over top.   I added a narrow red mat under this piece.

I stamped the same feather with Versa Mark on the folded green cardstock and just left it with a watermark image.   The color & stamping on the green shows up a little better in the closeup photo below. 

The LOVE sentiment from the Artistic Expressions set was stamped & embossed with Gold and then cut with Spellbinders S4-322 Grommet tag.  I blended Evergreen Bough Distress Ink over top.

The Peacock Feather Fan was stamped and embossed with Gold on Watercolour paper and then painted with my Tombows.    

Thanks for your visits and have a great day !
Shirley

Less is More - Sketch Challenge

Hello Crafters !  I hope you enjoyed your weekend !      We were working outside most of the day in our gardens !    We have lots to do, but it felt wonderful !  

I'm venturing again into the world of Clean & Simple and entering another challenge at Less is More.  I enjoy looking at the elegant creations by the DT & participants.  I'm intriqued by the challenge of this style which is different for me.    I like to 3D images and create colorful backgrounds with no white space,  but it is also fun to make cards that are CAS !   

This week's (#65) is a Sketch Challenge, but there is a choice of either a square or circle in the centre.

I've been playing a lot with Tombow markers, water & salt to create backgrounds so I have a lot of bits & pieces left over.   I decided to use a little orange/yellow one for my mini-background.  I stamped & embossed in gold, a small leafy branch from the Hero Art Set - CL477 Delicate Leaf Clusters and then adhered the piece onto a very narrow dark brown mat.   I popped up the 'mini scene' over the white square folded card stock.    I stamped the just a note sentiment that is from a little Kaiser Craft Set - CS921 Thinking of you with Memento Rich Cocoa Dye Ink.

This is the Sketch I chose:

Thanks for stopping by.  Your visits & kind comments make me smile !
Shirley

Black Eye Susan

Good Evening Crafters,  I hope you had a great week !

We are still 'enjoying' cool wet weather this week but we needed rain, so I won't complain.   It should be sunny this weekend.  I'm anxious to get back out into the gardens, there is always so much to do at this time of year.  

Yesterday I was working on cards for Designs by Ryn and today posting one that I created using her Black Eye Susan CM-F3 and Leafy Branch CM-F15 stamps.    I have the flower the 'right side up' this time  :)

One of my kind blogger friends suggested that I enter this into the Pixie Dust Studio challenge #124 as it's all about embossing !   So I will follow her suggestion and enter !  Thank you Shirl !   

The small strip on the LH side was stamped with the Leafy Branch, embossed with Gold and then I blended Wild Honey & Crushed Olive Distress Inks over top.   I added a little white with a Prisma Pencil in some of the leaves.   I stamped the Black Eye Susan onto the green card stock with Colorbox Platinum Ink.   

The Black Eye Susan that is attached to the background was also embossed with gold and coloured a little with my Tombows.  I cut it out & added some holograph glitter here & there.   I also added a few leaves die cut with Crealies CLCS11. 

The Spellbinder Label S4-322 was distressed with Wild Honey.   I created the mat behind it by tracing the outside of the die on green cardstock and then cutting it out.  Happy Birthday is from a little Kaisercraft set - CS921 Thinking of You.  

The ribbon & bow are a sheer rusty brown.   I also added a couple of orange rhinestones.    

Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate all your visits !
Have a great weekend.
Shirley

Dancing Hummingbird

Good Afternoon Crafters !

I realized that I'm obsessed with stamping & inking while participating in Zumba recently.  Zumba is a fun areobic class with a variety of Latin dance steps.  While concentrating on following the fancy footwork, I suddenly noticed the tattoo of beautiful flowers on the shoulder of the lady in front of me and my mind left Zumba and went to thoughts of what a nice stamp they would make !   Of coarse I lost my step !

I received more beautiful stamps from Ryn of  Designs by Ryn to create more card designs for her and amongst them was another of her beautiful Hummingbirds.   This one is especially beautiful, he looks like he is dancing....... maybe not Latin Dancing but he looks very graceful !

Stamps used for this card:   Designs by Ryn CM-B9 Flying Hummingbird 2 and CM-F3 Black Eyed Susan.

The background was created by starting with white card stock (I use a smooth sheet that is meant for Copic Markers, it gives a nice base to work on).   I used the following Color Box Fluid Chalk Inks -  Yellow Citrus, Lime Pastel & Ice Jade and 'stamp smooshed'  the flower using the inks one at a time.   The final image is Color Box Boysenberry Pigment Ink which was stamped without too much 'smooshing'.    Stamp Smoosh is simply stamp and then give it a little 'twist'.. more dancing :)

I mistakenly mounted this background upside down, the flower looks better turned the other way, I will make sure to get it right on my next card using this stamp.   

I stamped the Hummingbird on water colour paper, embossed with black & coloured with Tom Bow markers & water.   He turned out to be a colourful bird.  It's fun to imagine what Hummingbirds in the tropics look like and maybe they are dancing there !    Here they like to hover over flowers which is amazing to watch.      

The Happy Mother's Day sentiment is from a nice little set from Kaisercraft - CS916 Occasions. 

Thanks for stopping by & have a great day !

Shirley  

Playing with Watercolours

Good Evening !  

We are having a wild day here today, winter is trying to come back.  It's been blowing and snowing all day.  Fortunatley the snow is melting as it hits the ground, but it is nasty !  Our spring flowers are still looking fine, they are strong.

I had the pleasure of teaching 2 classes at Crop Circles in Peterborough, Ontario on Saturday.   We all had a great time playing with backgrounds using Tom Bows, Water & Salt.   The ladies left with a 5" x 7" piece to frame, and two cards.  

Helen, owner of Crop Circles, sent photos to me this evening .     I love this one with 2 happy ladies (Lynn & Ruth) holding up their framed artwork and just had to post it  !

Here is a link to Crop Circles Blog where Helen has posted many photos of the watercolour artwork by the participants in the class.    

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your week !
Shirley

Fairy at Sunrise

Hello Crafters !   

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.  I had fun today with wonderful ladies in a class over at Crop Circles teaching the background technique with Tom Bows, Water & Salt .   Wow, what a mess we can make when 'playing', but the ladies created beautiful work !    Helen (owner of Crop Circles) will send me photos and I'll get them posted soon.   

Last night I worked on another card using this technique to show the ladies today.  I was inspired by the photo (see bottom of this post) from For Your Inspiration's Blog and this is my second entry into their current (FYI #28) challenge.

I'm also entering this card into Craft a Scene Challenge #4, as the theme is to use a Silhouette this month.

It's worth taking time to check out both Challenge Blogs as they feature awesome creations from both the DT and participants ! 

The background was created using Tom Bow markers, water & salt.    The 'grass' was created by using a stamp from the Hero Art CL428 Set which was stamped several times (partly off the page) & embossed with gold.  The little fairy silhouette is from Class Act Inc. ANGF316C (sm butterfly pixie) stamped with ColorBox Boysenberry Pigment Ink and embossed with Clear.  

The picture below is from For Your Inspiration's Blog.    I can't stopping look at this, it's such a gorgeous photo !

That's all for this evening.  Thanks for all your visits, they are appreciated ! 

Shirley 

A Fiesta Flower For Your Inspiration

Good Evening Crafters !

I hope you are having a great week.   It was warm & sunny here today in Ontario.  We are enjoying an early Spring with lots of flowers blooming... wonderful !

I'm entering this card into two challenges today.   Impression Obsessions challenge this Thursday is "Flower Power" - all the details & creations are here at Impression Obsession's Blog .

I planned to use IO's  "Fiesta Flower" and when I saw the "For Your Inspiration" photo challenge for this week (see  photo at the bottom of this post) I thought the colours suited a 'Fiesta Flower' !    All the details & creations for FYI Challenge #28 are here at For Your Inspiration Blog.

IO Stamps used:  CC0159 CAC Spatter, H2330 Fiesta Flower & B3552 "Just a Note".

The background is a sheet from Basic Grey's Lime Rickey collection which I stamped using 'Spatter Cover a Card' with Dusty Concord Distress Ink and then blended a little more around the outer edges.

I embossed the Fiesta Flower with black on the background and five more times on white smooth cardstock.    I coloured the flowers & leaves with either Dusty Concord or Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks and cut out various sections as shown.   I popped up a couple of the layers.   I added further color with Prisma Pencils including a little green which I see in the photo. 

The sentiment was stamped & embossed with black on Spellbinders S4-322 Grommet Tag with Spiced Marmalade & a little Shabby Shutters Distress Inks blended over the lettering.

The final touches are a piece of hand dyed silk ribbon, green & purple stickles and a few green rhinestones.

And below is the  photo for the FYI Challenge #28.   Now that these photos are together, I see that my purple is showing blue tone.    It really is more purple - honest  !  I always have trouble getting purples to look the right shade in photos.  

Isn't this scene gorgeous ?   I have another idea that I hope to get onto paper and enter into the challenge as well.

Well that's it for this evening !   Thanks for stopping by - I appreciate your visits & kind comments ! 
Have a great weekend !
Shirley

Just because... I love to Doodle !

Hello Crafters !   I hope you had a great weekend.

I've finally worked up the nerve to enter a card at Less is More.  The challenges there feature clean & simple card entries.   I've been enjoying looking at their blog where you will find beautiful & elegant card creations.    It's a popular challenge, last week had close to 200 entries. 

When I read last night that this week's (#63) challenge is to hand Doodle something on the card, I thought I need to jump in !   I love to Doodle as some of you know.     The other element of the challenge is to use a single layer, so no matting this time.    It's also suggested that you leave areas of white space and little or no bling etc.   This card features a doodle flower - one of my favourite subjects.

I hand doodled the flower onto watercolour cardstock using pigment pens and then added a little colour with Tom Bows and water.  I actually added too much water in a couple of areas.  Grrrrrrrr.  I decided to go ahead and enter this card vs starting over again as I'm running out of time this week, lots of things on my plate including getting ready for upcoming classes.   The sentiment "just because..." is from a little clear mini-stamp set from Basic Grey and was stamped with black Versafine Ink.  The package doesn't have a name or number on it. 

Well that's it for this evening.    Enjoy your week and thanks for visiting !
Shirley

Dream in Black & White

Hello Crafters !   I hope you are having a good week.    I had fun today with a few wonderful crafty friends that were here for a "Card Play Day".      We taught each other techniques while chatting, drinking tea and enjoying lots of goodies :)   It was such a relaxing & fun day !

We also 'played' with our inks, trying out different colours etc.   I remembered the 'For your Inspiration Challenge'  photo that featured a stormy sky.   I tried creating a similar effect with Smooch Inks.    These are very different colours for me with interesting results and this evening I created a card with the background I created.   

I'm entering this card into the FYI #27 Challenge.    You will find the wonderful creations by the Design Team and details here at For Your Inspiration Blog.

The background was created by blending Black & Silver Smooch Inks and then adding more silver on top with an acrylic block.  I also sprayed it with Silver Glimmermist.   I wish you could see the glimmer & sheen, but as usual you can't see it in the photo. 

I created the flower with a clear stamp set from Impression Obsession - CL119 Butterflies & Blossoms.   You can create butterflies or flowers with the individual pieces.   I embossed the petals & centre with black and arranged them on the background with the centre popped up.     I added the sentiment "Dream" from the Life Sentiments set from Kaisercraft, also embossed in black.     I also added a border of rhinestones.

Below is the Photo Inspiration for this Challenge.    That sky is pretty mysterious ! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend !

Shirley    

Enjoy the little things ....

Hello Crafters, I hope you had a great Easter Weekend.    We had fun with our family and ate too much chocolate.

I know I've posted fish cards recently but "Wanda the Fish" is back !    I've created two more cards for Designs by Ryn  using her Sea Bubbles Set CM-S15 and Wanda the Angelfish CM-S7.   I included her African Daisy CM-F1 on this design as it looks tropical or could be a water lily !

I love Ryn's hand drawn designs and her stamps are top quality & deeply etched which results in crisp images every time.     Her Sea Creature line will be added to her website by the end of April.    We are going to celebrate with Blog Candy in May, so stayed tuned !  

 
To create the background for this card I started with Kaleidacolour Ink- Caribbean Sea using a Brayer to ink onto IO's Solid Cover a Card CC084.   I stamp-kissed the small bubble stamp in the set before stamping onto white card stock.   It's a little hard to see the stamp-kiss effect in the photo, but it added some texture.   I heat dried and then stamped the large Bubble in the set with Versamark and embossed with Gold EP that has a little glitter.  

I stamped and embossed the Angel Fish and Daisy with Gold on water color paper and colored with Tom Bows and water.    I stamped the flower twice and cut a mid-section out of the 2nd to add to the flower for more dimension.     I realise as I'm writing this that I should have added some glitter to the centre of the flower - I will do that !  

The wonderful quote is from Chocolate Baroque's Artistic Expression set.  It was also embossed with Gold and then I blended a little Shabby Shutters and Old Paper Distress Inks over the lettering.      I also added  gold ribbon before I popped up the images onto the background.  

I used Wanda the Angel fish & the Bubbles again on this next card but also sponged some larger bubbles by using card stock that has circles cut out as a mask.       I've been using the sponge technique to create 'scenes' & bubbles for quite a while now, ever since I was inspired (again) by cards made by Miranda (of 'Mir'acle art Inspiration Blog).   I was wishing for a lesson, but I figured out a way to sponge using card stock for shapes.  I've had a lot of fun with creating scenes !    

I stamped kissed the bubbles again using a light colored ink- ColourBox Pigment - Glacier Ice.   Next I used ColourBox Aqua & Thistle to sponge the bubbles over top.  (I used a large dabber).    The poem is from the set by Impression Obsession - CL182 by the Seaside which was stamped with Versa Fine Black Ink. 

The two Angel fish were stamped and embossed with black on Watercolour paper and painted with Tombows and water.   The purple mat was embossed with CB Divine Swirls Folder.   The fish were popped up over the background.  You can see the stamp-kissed bubbles on the close-up below.

That's all for today, thanks for visiting !
Shirley

Seaside Fun with Impression Obsession

Hello Crafters, I hope you are having a great week & enjoy your Easter Weekend !

I'm participating in this week's 'Summer Fun in Water & Sun' Challenge at Impression Obsession.  You will find links to the DT's beautiful creations and the details here at Impression Obsession's Blog.    This challenge gave me incentive to use some of my IO fish stamps that have been 'swimming around' here without ink for a while.   

Impression Obsession Stamps used :   Goldfish F2328 & 'By the Seaside' clear set CL182.  

The background for this card was created by using the Acrylic Block technique with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and then sprayed with Gold Glimmermist.   Unfortunately you can't see the sheen & gold flecks in the photo.  I stamped five starfish at the bottom and a 'wave' border at the top with Iced Spruce Distress Ink.

The Goldfish, Starfish and Shell were stamped and embossed with black on Water color paper.   All images were colored with my Tombow markers & water and then cut out.    I needed to use my small knife for the swirls on the fish.    I stamped & embossed a 2nd fish and cut out a few pieces to add more dimension.  I popped up the fish and used 2 way tape for the rest. I stamped the cute poem (from the 'By the Seaside' set) with black Versafine Ink.  I added Diamond Stickles to highlight some areas.  

It's going to be a while before we can go swimming here in Ontario, but at least I'm out in the gardens this month !

I received a nice surprise this morning to learn that I won Blog Candy at Laura's Stamp Art Journal.   Laura is one of the talented members of IO's  Design Team.  I won a wonderful set of IO's sentiments stamps !   Thank you !

Thanks for your visit and have a great day !
Shirley

A Faerie Poppet - FYI #26

Hello Crafters,  I hope you are enjoying the weekend.

During our recent vacation in Scotland I was able to visit a lovely Craft Store with one of Jim's (my DH) cousins.    I ended buying a Faerie Poppet stamp set by Creative Expressions.   A nice souvenir of  the UK!  There are 3 sweet Fairies and a couple of sentiments in the set.   These are quite different than any of the stamps in my collection and I was able to get them out this weekend to give them a try.    

While it's close to the April 4th deadline, I'm entering this card into the For your Inspiration Challenge  (FYI Challenge #26).   Visit their Blog to see the beautiful work posted by the Design Team.   This is my first time joining in, but I've been admiring Sylvia's creations, who is a member of their Design Team, for several months.  You can find her designs at her Blog -  Poppy's Papercraft Patch.   

I stamped one of the Faeries from the Fairy 2 set by Creative Expressions onto watercolor paper with Black Stazon ink and colored her with my Tombow markers using water & brushes.   I used the "FYI" photo (see bottom of this post) as inspiration for coloring my Fairy.  The image has a lot of detail, I think she is sweet.   I added lots of holograph glitter to highlight areas and had fun creating flowers with my new Crealie dies.  (I love the Crealies, can't wait to build the collection!) 

Dies used:  Crealie Flowers CL CF 17, Crealie Shapes CL CS 11 and Spellbinder Nestability Label Eight S5-019.   

The green DP is from a 2008 Basic Grey mini pad - 'Boxer'.  Wow it's been here that long ?  At least I only have 1/2 of the pad left.  The burgundy DP is from a K&C Company mini pad - Christmas Cheer. 

Below is the gorgeous photo inspiration for this challenge.   What a beautiful place !  My reds, especially in crealie flowers, are not as orange/red as I would like them to be to match this photo.   However I painted a little orange into a few of the flowers, the wood branches that my fairy is sitting on matches the tree branches below and the greens blend in.   I think this Fairy could be sitting somewhere in this forest :) 

Well that's all for now.   Thanks for visiting and enjoy your day !
Shirley