Inking Up Old Rubber!

Hello All! 

You may have noticed that I have not been around much.  I am taking a sort of crafty break, although I do still have some commitments.  I won a challenge at Retro Rubber Card Challenge and was invited to be a guest there.  This go around the challenge is 'Summer'! 

The idea behind this challenge is to get your older stamps out and get them inky.  I think we all like playing with the shiny, new toys!  The stamps you use must be older than a year and you must tell the ages of the stamps. 

So you are probably wondering about the summer theme.  Well, I am not a beach girl.  Summer to me is going to the mountains.  I can't get enough of them!  If you time it right, you get to take in views of moutain meadows, full of wild flowers, like this Colorado Columbine. 
My stamps are old...the Columbine- from Gina K Designs- is probably at least 6 years old and is from a set which is called Stately Flowers.  The set is now a clear set but mine is good ol' red rubber.   The Gingham-it is a background stamp from Divinity Designs.  I bought it when it was still Our Daily Bread Designs, probably 5 or 6 years ago.
My sentiment is from a Sweet n Sassy Stamps set called Encouraging Thoughts.  I absolutely love the font used for this set.  
I used the sketch from Fusion~ ironically, the challenge is 'beach' there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lee Ann 

Spring Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!

Hello, Hello!

I love the biannual Coffee Lover's Blog Hop Tradition!
Thanks to Amy Tsuruta for her time and the dedication she puts into these hops and the Coffee Loving Cardmaker's  Blog.

My card features the In This Together Stamp Set by Sweet n Sassy Stamps.  The image was colored with Copics and fussy cut out.  I had the sun ray panel in a pile of backgrounds (yeah for using stuff I already had)!  The blue portion was done with the smoothing technique and distress inks.
The sentiment makes the card, imo, and is from the Tea for Two Stamp Set.  I used my MISTI to stamp it so I got perfect placement around my main image.
I finished it off with Sakura white gelly roll pen for the flower centers and my favorite sequins, Moonshine, from Simon Says Stamp.
That's it for me!

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

Lee Ann

Stamps
Sweet n Sassy Stamps In This Together, from SnSS
Sweet n Sassy Stamps In This Together from SSS
Sweet n Sassy Stamps Tea for Two from SnSS
Sweet n Sassy Stamps Tea for Two from SSS

Ink
Versmark Onyx Black Ink, SnSS
Distress Ink SSS
Distress Ink, Ranger

Paper
Copic Blending Card, SSS

Other
Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen from Dick Blick
Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen from SSS
MISTI , SnSS
Copics, SSS
Copics Dick Blick
Altenew Golden Trim Washi, Altenew
Altenew Golden Trim Washi, SSS

Getting a Little Holtz-Like'

Hey All! 

I have been really enjoying following along with Tim Holtz's fb live demos.  I did a lot of ink smooshing with Distress Inks for this card~

This was actually the first card I made for Freshly Made Sketches #436, but after I was done, I did not do a good job of following the sketch! 
I used Tim Holtz Watercolor Paper and smooshed distress inks in yellows, oranges, pinks and reds onto my craft mat, then spritzed with water with the Distress Sprayer and smooshed my paper into the inky goodness.  I repeated this multiple times, drying in between, to get the spotty goodness.
Once I was happy with the distress ink panel, I stamped the butterfly from the Perspective Stamp Set in Versamark ink and heat embossed in black with Brutus Monroe Raven Fine Embossing Powder. 
The image panel was then die cut with a stitched rectangle die.  
To add more texture, I used a stencil and  some transparent embossing paste randomly on the panel.  Before the paste dried, I sprinkled some chunky antique gold embossing powder on it and heated it. 
The sentiment is from the Sweet n Sassy Stamp Set, Encouraging Thoughts Stamp Set and was heat embossed in Gina K Designs fine gold embossing powder.   

That's it for me!  I hope you like it. 
I am trying something new by trying to link all products below for your convenience.  Let me know what you think and if it is helpful or not. 

Have a great day! 

Lee Ann


Products Used~
Tim Holtz Distress Sprayer 
Tim Holtz Watercolor Cardstock
Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads
Tim Holtz Cling Perspective Stamp Set 
Ranger Transparent Texture Paste
Ranger Non Stick Craft Sheet

Gina K Fine Gold Embossing Powder
Brutus Monroe Raven Fine Embossing Powder 

Sweet n Sassy Stamps Encouraging Thoughts Stamp Set from SnSS
Sweet n Sassy Stamps Encouraging Thoughts Stamp Set from Simon Says Stamp

A New Sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!

Hello, Hello!

I took a break from the Freshly Made Sketches Team last week; sometimes I think creativity requires walking away from the projects for a bit.  Today's sketch is from the amazing Jen B.!  If you haven't already, you HAVE to go and check her card on the FMS blog!
  This sketch is wide open, anything goes.  I needed a masculine card and this sketch was perfect.

Here is the sketch~

For as great as the sketch is, I was only 'meh' about the card.  But the story behind the card is great!
My son is a math major at a university here in town.  He has been teaching/tutoring calculus for a few semesters now.  This past spring, about two weeks before the end of the year, he spent hours with a young man, helping him with calc.  Hours and hours at the dining room table, tutoring online.  It got to where I was encouraging this young man along as well.  He would get online and I could hear him calling 'Hey, Mom'!
So when he connected with my son last week to tell him that he passed the final, and not just passed but got 84%, we were ALL celebrating!  You see, this was the third time he was taking the class!  So there you have it, this card is for him, for all of his hard work and determination that paid off!
I used an old Darkroom Door stamp for the card, stamped it with Versamark Ink on Canson watercolor cs, heat embossed it and colored it in with Ken Oliver Color Bursts.  I finished the card off with black sequins. 

Check out what the rest of the team has to share and then join us!  I can't wait to see this gallery this week!

Lee Ann

***  I am trying something different by listing and in some cases, linking, products used down below.  Let me know what you think!  I am just experimenting!  

Products Used
Ken Oliver Color Bursts from Simon Says Stamp (while this is the same watercolor product, they are not the colors I used). 
Ken Oliver Color Bursts from Dick Blick

Canson Watercolor Paper from Dick Blick
Canson Watercolor Paper from Simon Says Stamp

Versamark Ink

Brutus Monroe Raven Embossing powder

Totally Random Sayings Stamp Set from Ellen Hutson
Circles Background Stamp from Deep Red

28 Lilac Lane Formal Sequin Mix

Life and Lemons

Helo Everyone! 

Today's card is bright, fresh and CAS.  I used the sketch from CASE This Sketch~

I love these fun, stylized lemons.  And one cannot go wrong with the amazing font from Rebecca Rios.  The set is Life and Lemons from Sweet n Sassy Stamps. The lemons/leaves are colored with Copics and fussy cut out. 
Here is the sketch I used; I did have to flip it to accommodate my large, 2-part sentiment.

Time to get some chores done!  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week!

Lee Ann 

Flutter By

Hello, Hello! 

Low MOJO has pushed me back to messier crafting, otherwise known as mixed media or distress (in the Tim Holtz world)!  Distress inks and my MISTI were used along with the faux watercolor stamping technique to ink up this gorgeous butterfly from the Begin Again Stamp Set from Sweet n Sassy Stamps.  Once inked up, they were spritzed with water and then stamped onto the Canson watercolor paper. 

This was my final card after playing around, making many panels.  I stamped multiple times and with multiple colors, sometimes drying in between.  I also spattered water as well as watercolor paint spatters at then end.  Sentiment is from the Encouraging Thoughts Stamp Set. 
Here are other cards that I started out with.  Some are first generation stamping, some are second.  Some are multi stamped, some are dried inbetween, some are not. I just experimented and played! 
They all ended up being a set of cards that I gifted to a friend of mine.

Sentiment is from Encouraging Thoughts Stamp Set.

 

Sentiment is from Encouraging Thought Stamp Set. 

Sentiment is from Encouraging Thoughts Stamp Set. 

 Sentiment is from the So Thankful Stamp Set.  

Sentiment is from Sympathy Morning Glories Stamp Set.  

A few sequins on each card and some simple matting was all they needed.  

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a blessed week!

Lee Ann 

Proverbs 31

Hello Friends!

I am at it again with Bible Journaling.  This digital image from Sweet n Sassy Stamps-Love the Word- really got me thinking.  I LOVE the girl's hair and I thought how fun it would be to cover the page.  So...

I made her head/hair as wide as the 8.5 x 11 paper.  Printed on Expressit cs and colored with Copics.  I fussy cut her out to the best of my ability.  A couple of the curls would require being 'reattached', lol
I have been afraid to try my new Illustrating Bible- didn't want to ruin the pages.  But I finally jumped in yesterday.  At first I did not like it- had done some distress ink sponging.  But then I got bolder and used some acrylic paint and a diamond stencil.  I used red, magenta and yellow.  The paints were smeared on and through the stencil with a credit card.
The paint did not go far, so when I took the stencil off, I smeared the paint some more, but it still allowed he diamonds to faintly show through.
Next, I planned out my wording; it is always the most difficult part for me.  I used stamps from various sets-
Inspirational Word Art 1
Rebecca Script Alpha
School House Alpha
His Wings
The sentiment was stamped with Versafine Onyx Black Ink.  The hand done writing was done with a Kuretake Zig Millenium Pen.
The girl was glued down to the page.  I added some washi tape to the bottom and tops of the page.  Honestly guys, I do NOT know how to use washi!
The prettiest part is the diamond stencil that I used; this time I traced some of the diamond shapes with a gold pen.  The gold washi goes great with the gold pen work.

The message is simple, but yet another one I need to remind myself of daily, especially with all of the advertising out there about beauty. 
Have a blessed weekend!

Lee Ann