Beauty is God's Handwriting

Hi Friends!

I am still making an effort to create cards using some of my older stamp sets.

This Clean and Simple card combines three retired Stampin’ Up! sets- Natural Beauty, God’s Beauty and Botanicals.

This card was quick and easy to create- I heat embossed the butterfly image with clear embossing powder onto a white cardstock panel and once cooled, masked the image before stamping the text image and sentiment using water-based markers.  A water brush was used to blend a bit of the color and I used the remaining ink off the silicone mat to create a bit of splatter.

The text image was used on the base and the main image panel was mounted with dimensional foam.

I finished off the card using a clear glitter pen and white gel pen.

I am linking this card to several online challenges- the CAS Colours and Sketches#335 Color Challenge, the Stampin’ Up! Only SUOC230 “Clean and Simple”Challenge and the CAS Watercolour August "Colourful Butterflies" Challenge.

If you have not had a chance to stop by the above challenge sites, I encourage you to do so- fabulous galleries and inspiration from all!

Stamp Sets: Nature’s Beauty, God’s Beauty and Botanicals (all retired Stampin’ Up!)

Ink/Mediums: Versafine™ Onyx Black,  Stampin’ Write Markers- Crushed Curry, Elegant Eggplant and Highland Heather; White Gel Pen, Clear Glitter Pen

Cardstock/Designer Paper: Whisper White

Accessories: Embossing Buddy®, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, AquaPainter™

Thanks again for taking the time to visit- hugs and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Natural Beauty- Dream One Layer Card

Hi Friends!

I hope all of you are having a great week so far!  My hubby, Dave is doing better with each passing day as we are getting used to his new “normal”. 

I have been creating over the summer but have not had a chance to post many of the cards to my blog or other galleries (many of you have blogs and know the time that it takes photograph, edit and write up the blog posts). 

With my limited creative time due to taking care of the household chores that my hubby normally handles, etc. :-) I am going to post the cards in the future without the detailed step by step instructions but an overview of how they were created.  If you have any questions on a particular card, and/or technique, please feel free to ask.

I am linking this card to several online challenges- AAA #142 “Along the Edge” with optional twist of “Inspired by a Song” ( I think of the song that has the lyrics “Dream, Dream, Dream” when I see this image), the Simon Says Wednesday “Clean and Simple” Challenge , the Addicted to CAS #166 "One Layer Card" Challenge and the 2 Crafty Critters Crazies  “Anything Goes with Critters”Challenge.

If you have not had a chance to stop by the above challenge sites, I encourage you to do so- gorgeous inspiration from all!

This card is a one-layer card designed with an older Stampin’ Up! stamp set, Natural  Beauty.  

The white cardstock card base was folded in half and I used a scrap piece of paper to create a mask for the border along the right side.  I repeatedly stamped the word image along the edge with Versamark™ Onyx Black ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.   

The little bird was also heat embossed with clear embossing powder and I used several Distress Oxide inks to blend color over the edge (see colors below)  

I finished off the card using a black marker to create a thick line along the border edge (this covered up a bit of the uneven ink and straighten up the edge).

Stamp Sets: Natural Beauty (retired Stampin’ Up!)

Ink/Mediums: Versafine™ Onyx Black,  Tim Holtz® Distress Oxide- Broken China, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, Faber-Castell™ Black Pitt Pen Marker

Cardstock/Designer Paper: Whisper White

Accessories: Embossing Buddy®, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Sponge Dauber

Thanks again for taking the time to visit- hugs and I hope you can stop by again soon!

Hope- A Color Challenge with a Technique "Twist"

Hi Stampers!

I wanted to create a card using the CQC261 ColourQ Challenge and decided to incorporate a version of the Alcohol Marker Marbling Technique (hence, the "Technique Twist", using Stampin’ Write Markers versus the alcohol markers).  

Also, you would normally use glossy cardstock for this technique, but since the challenge needed Very Vanilla cardstock, I decided to go ahead and give it a try :-)   One thing I noticed is that the regular cardstock soaks up most of the ink so you do not have the ability to allow the ink to spread (nor the chance for a second print) as you do with the glossy cardstock.  

If you have not had a chance to visit the ColourQ Challenge site yet, I hope you will find the time to do so- as always, great Design Team samples as well as tremendous inspiration from the gallery of submissions!!

To create this card:

Using the same steps as the technique for alcohol markers (see tutorial here), apply the Stampin’ Write markers directly onto the plastic bag- Island Indigo and retired Dusty Durango and use a Sponge Dauber to apply retired Kiwi Kiss Classic Ink.

Mist the ink on the plastic bag with Rubbing Alcohol and lay the piece of Very Vanilla cardstock over the moistened ink.

Repeatedly stamp the sentiment image using Chocolate Chip Classic Ink over the newly created background (re-inking after each stamping) and using Island Indigo Classic Ink, add a bit of additional distressing using the splatter stamp from Gorgeous Grunge.

Carefully cut the sections apart, use a Sponge Dauber with Chocolate Chip Classic Ink to apply ink over the edges and adhere to a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock. 

Mount a piece of Island Indigo cardstock to the Chocolate Chip card base.

Ink the Gorgeous Grunge stamps using retired Dusty Durango , Kiwi Kiss and Island Indigo Classic Ink. 

Mount the two sentiment panels flush with the card front and add the third panel using Stampin’ Dimensionals®.   

Create the rolled roses from Island Indigo and Dusty Durango cardstock (use the 2 ⅜” , 1 ¾” and 1 ¼” Scallop Circle Punches- punch the scallop circles, hand cut a wavy spiral from the outside of the scallop circle toward the center, use the Bone Folder to curl the edges of the petals a bit, roll up from the outside edge and adhere using Tombow Multi-Purpose Adhesive or a Hot Glue Gun).

Add the rolled flowers to the card front along with the Chocolate Chip leaves to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets:  Gorgeous  Grunge, Natural Beauty (retired)

Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Island Indigo, retired Dusty Durango and Kiwi Kiss; Stampin’ Write Markers- Island Indigo, retired Dusty Durango

Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Island Indigo , retired Dusty Durango

Accessories: Sponge Daubers, Punches- 2 ⅜”, 1 ¾” and 1 ¼” Scallop Circle, Bird Builder; Plastic Bag, Rubbing Alcohol  

Thanks again for visiting- have a terrific Tuesday, my friends!