Friday, September 28, 2012

Christmas Wishes with Dylusions & Chocolate Baroque

Hello everyone.   I just uploaded this card at the Chocolate Baroque Ning Network last night so thought I would post the details here this morning.    I'm enjoying working with my beautiful new Chocolate Baroque Christmas sets.   I used their newly released Pears & Baubles set for this card. 

I started by making an 'inky mess' spraying Dylusions inks (Green, Peacock, Blue & Purple) on the background.  I also added light blue Acrylic paint with Crafters Workshop's Mini Circle Explosion template.     I  stamped the background mistletoe from the stamp set in a couple of areas.   I thought it ended up looking like a light area in a dark sky with snow and that was a good spot for the pretty tree from this set.    I used black Stazon ink for the stamping and added lots of stickles along with a sparkle gel pen to highlight the tree.  

Christmas Wishes is from the Angel of Joy set which was the right size for this smaller card.  


Well that's all for this morning.  Thanks for your visit and have a great weekend !
Shirley

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Celtic Stars with Watercolour

Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great week.     I'm still busy working out in the gardens whenever I have free time and making progress.    I'm also going through lots of Epsom Salts in baths to ease the aching muscles :)

I created another card for Designs by Ryn using her Celtic Star Set.   For this card I used just one of the three stars in the set and had fun playing with the backgrounds.  Different colours again for Christmas !

I think there is enough pink in this card to join the In the Pink Challenge (criteria- use dry or wet embossing).   There are so many beautifully pink creations by the DT & participants if you have time to visit.




I embossed the stars with gold on the first background and then blended Picked Raspberry & Broken China Inks over top.  I sprayed water and added salt and set it aside to dry.    On the second background I used 443 & 679 Tombow markers and also sprayed with water & added salt.  I left both to dry.

I stamped Peace & Joy from a lovely Penny Black Sentiment set - Christmas Cheer.   I also stamped another star & embossed with black and blended Broken China Distress Ink over it, cut it out & attached as shown.  I also added pink & purple half pearls.

Design by Ryns Celtic Star Set - CM C7
Celtic Star Set CM C7


Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest the week !
Shirley

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Inspired by Nature

Good morning & welcome to Fall !    Here in Ontario we are enjoying cooler temperatures without the humidity of the summer, it's wonderful.   It rained overnight so it's cool & wet this morning and a perfect time to drink Tea and catch up on blogging.

The challenge theme this week at Impression Obsession is "Inspired by Nature".    I was gardening all afternoon yesterday and was certainly inspired by all the nature around me.   I love this time of year when the leaves are turning and the Mums are blooming.      Last night I created this card to enter into this challenge.

I used the Damask Floral image which is another one of my favourites by Leigh Hannan,      I'll also link into Judith's Forgotten Friday post as these stamps haven't seen ink for approx two years.   Too many stamps, not enough time !


H

Impression Obsession Stamps used:  Damask Floral J2011 (rubber stamp) & Damask Floral CL109 Clear set (in which the same image is slightly larger and separated which are great for using as accents).  

I embossed the J2011 Damask Floral and a couple of the leaf images from the CL109 Damask Floral set with dark brown.   I coloured all the images with Tombows and blended Salty Ocean & Evergreen Bough Distress Inks around the image.    I attached the leafy arrangement & the flower charm into the bottom/centre as shown.   I also added some holograph glitter and tiny rhinestones.    The flower charm came from charm necklaces that I took apart to use for embellishments.




Below is a photo of Purple Coneflowers that were blooming in July & August in our garden and are a great inspiration for creating.



Well that's all for this morning !
Thanks for your visit and enjoy your day,
Shirley

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Christmas Magic with Ryn's Ornament Faerie

Hello everyone !   I hope you are enjoying the week.   It's a beautiful sunny & cool day here, I'm heading out to garden shortly I have a lot to do outside at this time of year.  I enjoy it so much more in the crisp air.  

I created another card using Designs by Ryn's beautiful Ornament Faerie.    I love her Holly wings and her gorgeous ornament.    I thought that Ornament Faerie should be with a Christmas Tree and I didn't have a tree image the right size.   However, one of my kind crafty friends gave me a nice set of Spellbinder Dies that include triangle pendants.  (Thanks again Cathy !)   She mentioned using them to create Christmas tree for cards, so I thought I would give it a try and this is what I came up with.   

I  have trouble capturing the true colour when using purple, the actual card is more vibrant.  


I used the large triangle die with white cardstock and then coloured with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink using the Acrylic Block Technique.   Next I stamped over the 'tree' with an Evergreen Branch stamp with Shabby Shutters & Peeled Paint DI and then blended more Peeled Paint around the edges.  

I embossed the Faerie with Black (twice) and then coloured with Tombows using a brush & water.   I cut her out and then just the wings on the 2nd image.  I added a 2nd layer of wings for dimension.  I used holograph glitter on her fur trim, the ornament and layered as shown.    I found the green dotted page (Graphic 45) & green textured paper in my stash.  



Stamps:
Designs by Ryn - Ornament Faerie CM-M7
Impression Obsession - Christmas Magic B3585
Outlines - Evergreen Branch E-188
Dies:
Spellbinder - S5-029 Lacey Pennants and S4-322 Grommet Tags

Cuttlebug Embossing Folder: - Swiss Dots

If you get a chance, please hop over to Eileen's Blog, she has created a fabulous tag using Ryn's beautiful Kelp Stamp. 

Thanks for your visit, it's appreciated !
Have a great day,
Shirley

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Garden Art Journal Page

Good morning !  I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.  I had a great day yesterday teaching at Crop Circles.   Helen, the owner, has a wonderful group of loyal & creative ladies that come out for the fun.   Each participant created 6 cards, we enjoyed a delicious lunch & I came home tired & happy !    I also purchased some new fabulous 'goodies', including beautiful new Christmas stamps by Penny Black.   

I'm sharing my second Art Journal page today.  It's so much fun to 'play' & create and it's nice that I keep this work for me.   This page 'feels' like my garden where I can go to Dream and look at the Beauty of the flowers & texture of plants.   I included one of Ryn's Moth's which you can find here at Designs by Ryn


I used Dylusions Inks, Distress Inks, white Acrylic Paint, Templates and Rubber Stamps to create this page.   I also highlighted a little with a white Neocolor crayon.

Stamps:
Designs by Ryn - Tsuki (Moth) CM-B5
Hero Art - S5154 Three Ferns (embossed with gold)
Rubber Stamped - A1102E Fern (hard to see with ink blended over)
Chocolate Baroque - Artistic Expressions (Dream, Imagine, Beauty)

Templates:
Crafters Workshop - TCW226s mini Leaf Frame & TCW278s Circle Explosion
'Stencil It' book - 'trellis' & butterfly

That's all for now, thanks for your visit and have a great day !
Shirley

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Chocolate Baroque Christmas Bauble

Hello everyone !   I thought I would post this card today as well.   My previous post was for the In The Pink Challenge.   

I was excited to receive my order from Chocolate Baroque with their beautiful new Christmas set -   Pears & Baubles.  Such a gorgeous set that includes a fabulous background design.  I ordered it as soon as it was released and couldn't believe it when it arrived in just FOUR days from the UK !   This is not the first time I've ordered from them :) :) :) and they are always fast, but this was very impressive.

I used 3 stamps from the set to create this card.   It's a little difficult to capture the colours & embossing in the photo.

I started with the stars & mistletoe background stamp and embossed with gold in two areas.   I used  Picked Raspberry and Peacock Feathers Distress with the Acrylic Block technique to create the background.  Different colours for Christmas but I love them.    

Acrylic Block Technique:    Simply add Distress Inks directly to an Acrylic Block (used for cling stamps), spray with water and then 'smoosh' around your page until you like the results.  

I embossed the mistletoe and the star bauble twice with gold.  I blended the same two Distress Inks again  to add colour to the bauble, mistletoe and white sheer ribbon.   I cut the centre star from one bauble to pop up in the middle as show below.  I cut the mistletoe out and adhered all to the background.   I also used a white gel pen to add a little highlight here & there.

This photo below is clearer:


Thanks for your visit and kind comments, they are always appreciated.
Have a great day,
Shirley

In the Pink with a Starflower

Good Morning!    I hope you are having a great week.   We are enjoying fabulous weather, sunshine and low 20's (Celsius), beautiful !     I feel energized when the humidity of the summer leaves and it was a hot, dry one this year.

I'm entering this card that I created a while ago into the In the Pink Challenge.   Christine & Sylvia are asking for "Anything but Square" for Challenge #3 and since this card is rectangular, it qualifies.   I also think I can use this for Christmas.  

I used Impression Obsession's beautiful Starflowers set - 3066-LG by Leigh Hannon.  The set includes two beautiful flowers.

The background was created by blending Taffy & Snickerdoodle Smooch Inks over white cardstock (cover with Versamark Ink first) and then I stamped one of the flowers with Brilliance Gold Ink at random.    I embossed the flower with gold on white cardstock and blended Taffy Smooch Ink over it.   Next I used the little applicator to highlight areas with Taffy Smooch Ink (pink).   After carefully cutting it out, I mounted it with pop dots onto the background.   A few layers of matting, ribbon and half pearls finished the card. 

That's all for now !    Thanks for your visit, they are always appreciated.
Have a great day !
Shirley

Sunday, September 09, 2012

One Layer Card with Foliage and Gratitude

Hello everyone !

I'm back sooner that expected.   My craft room looked like a cyclone hit the last few days as I was putting together 85+ kits for my classes coming up at Crop Circles.    But I've finished most of the work ahead of schedule and had some time last night to create a quick card.   Single layer cards are not my 'regular' style, but I enjoy venturing into the world of clean & simple.   I admire the simple elegance of what I see out here in blogland and I had fun creating this card which I've combined for two challenges.  

The challenge this week at Less is More, where you will find inspiring creations by the DT & friendly participants, is to create a single layer card using foliage.

One of my blogger friends, Darnell, suggested that I use my IO C3541 "If you are grateful" quote that I used in my last blog post for this week's challenge at Simplicity.   The current challenge criteria is to create a single layer card expressing gratitude and here you will also find beautiful enteries.  

I used Designs by Ryn's beautiful Leaves Set - CM-F5 to create this card.   I love the movement in her leaves design (3 in the set).




I drew pencils lines to mark the area that I wanted to ink.   Next I embossed the three leaves with Metallic Bronze Embossing Powder.    I used cardstock as a mask and blended Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks to create the background for the leaves.   I carefully stamped the quote with Vintage Photo Distress Ink (hoping to get it straight) and it's done !    

Below is a close up that shows the shine of the metallic embossing. 



If you have a chance please visit  Eileen's Blog.  Eileen is a super talented lady who also designs for Designs by Ryn.  She has created the most gorgeous tag using Ryn's popular & unique Water Droplet stamp here at Eileen's Crafty Zone

Thanks for your visits & kind comments, they are always appreciated.  Have a great day !
Shirley

Thursday, September 06, 2012

If you are Grateful

Hello everyone !

This is my third post this week but I won't be back until next week sometime as I'm getting ready for a couple of classes coming up at Crop Circles and other activities.   I'm looking forward to working with the creative ladies again :)  

The challenge at Impression Obsession this week is to use a "Favourite Saying or Quote".     IO has a great selection of quotes & sentiments and the one I used on the card below is my favourite.  





Impression Obsession Stamps:   CC079 CAC Lg. Kaleidoscope & C3541 'If you are grateful'

Dies:  Cheery-Lynn- Designs, B127 Tropical Flourish
           Spellbinder, S4-347 Labels Twenty-Three
           Crealies, CL CF 19 - Creative Flowers

Embossing PowdersStamp Stuff - Kaleidoscope Transparent & Stampendous - Clear

Distress Inks:  Mustard Seed, Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry
Colorbox Pigment Ink:  Harbor

The background was created with the Cover a Card stamp & Kaleidoscope EP on white cardstock.   This powder adds a beautiful holograph sparkle that is hard to see in photo.    I used all three Distress Inks on the background which blended into additional beautiful colours.  I was inspired to use these colours together when I saw the creation at Gay's Blog Post here at Crafty Musings   

I also used white cardstock for all the die cuts and blended the same DI inks again except Mustard seed, so that there would be a contrast to the background.      I used Harbour ink for the sentiment and embossed with clear.

You can see a bit of the glitter on the background on the close-up below, but the actual card is  quite 'sparkly'.


That's all for today, thanks for your visits & kind comments !
Have a great weekend,
Shirley

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Listen to the Whispers of your Heart

Hello creative people !  I'm sharing my first Art Journal page today. 

I have been looking forward to getting started on an Art Journal for a while, but Summers are always busy with less time for creativity.   I was looking at several talented bloggers' Art Journal pages this week which inspired me to get started.    I had to keep telling myself that I just need to "Do" and "Don't think'.  No planning & just play.   It is fun but I'm still learning and looking forward to spending more time with it.   

I used Artistic Expressions Stamps from Chocolate Baroque and one of Design by Ryn's fabulous Texture stamps Patio Stone CM-T6 .    The Patio Stone design complimented one of the templates that I used.    I chose the expression 'Listen to the whispers of your Heart' & 'Art' as I feel my heart gets excited when I see beautiful creations.  

Eileen, who also Designs for Ryn, created a gorgeous tag with Ryn's Circle Cluster stamp.  If you get a chance, please check out her design here at Eileen's Crafty Zone.



I used several templates with white Acrylic paint, sprayed Dylusions Inks and stamped with Distress Ink.     I love to doodle, so I added the flowers in the centre & painted with a Tombow & outlined with a white Neocolor Crayon.  

I've been eyeing the Neocolor Crayons at a local art shop, but wasn't sure if I 'needed' them so I just picked up a white one.   I realize now that they are wonderful to work with & a colourful set are now on my wish list !  

Design by Ryn stamp used in above page:
Patio Stone CM-T6
Well that's all for today, thanks for your visits and kind comments they are appreciated :)
Have a great day !
Shirley

Sunday, September 02, 2012

An Autumn Twinchie Topper

Good evening !   I hope you enjoyed the weekend.   We managed to move a mountain of soil over our lawn.  I'm glad that job is finished, whew !   Tomorrow my hubby will over seed and then we hope for rain.  It's been a very dry summer.

I missed the last Twinchie challenge, so wanted to make sure I got in early this time.   The theme is "Autumn" for Challenge #5.   Check out the awesome creations by the Design Team here at Show us your Twinchies Challenge Blog.   Remember these creations are only 2 x 2 inches.  A small space, but for some reason I find creating them a little addicting.     I enjoy creating cards using the Twinchie as a topper and I think they would make great little gift tags.   

Update: Monday morning -  I'm adding this card to Judith's 'Forgotten Friday' Post at Judith@Poppy Cottage since I've used uninked stamps that have been waiting since last winter for Fall creations to start :) 


The background was created by using Rusty Hinge, Aged Mahogany, & Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks on an Acrylic Block, sprayed with water and then added to the white card stock.

The Stamps are the Maple Leaf A Stamp Set from Class Act Inc.     I stamped a large leaf from the set with aged mahogany DI over the background.   The small leaf was embossed with gold, cut out and popped up on the Twinchie.

Below is the card I created with the Twinchie as a topper:


The background for the card was also created using the Acrylic Block Technique with Spiced Marmalade & Rusty Hinge Distress Inks.  I also over sprayed with Sunshine Glimmermist.   I stamped two different leaves from the set with Aged Mahogany, Rusty Hinge and Spiced Marmalade Distress Inks.  

The quote - All Seasons C3534 from Impression Obsession was stamped with Walnut Stain DI.    The Twinchie was popped up and it's done !    I love this quote as Fall is my favourite season, especially after a long hot summer.   

That's all for today.   Thanks for your visits and kind comments, I appreciate them. 
Have a great day !
Shirley