Hello Fall and BLOG CANDY!!

Hello everyone!!!  Today I am celebrating FALL!!!!  :-)  Some of you actually have some fall weather where you are, but it is still hot and dry here in Texas.  Hopefully someday soon we will have more fall-like temperatures here and I can go outside and not feel like I am roasting in an oven.  Hee hee hee!!!

For my card above, I did something a little different.  I actually masked off the area where you see the "hello" sentiment, and then I stamped the leaves and acorns on the top and bottom of the masked area.  With the mask still in place, I sponged some Hello Honey ink, Pumpkin Pie ink, and some Cajun Craze ink in an ombre fashion.  I then took the mask off and very lightly sponged some Hello Honey ink over the white area.

I then added a die cut "hello" and the kanji that came with the stamp set.  I can't read kanji, so I'm guessing it says something like fall or autumn.  In my mind, the card says "Hello Fall!"  These stamps are all from Art Neko, and you can see the sheet here.

I have a fun surprise for you!  I have an extra sheet of these fall stamps, and Annette from Art Neko told me to go ahead and give this away as blog candy instead of mailing it back to her.  You can see that these stamps are deeply etched red rubber, and this sheet is ready for you to cut and trim.  There are some leaves, acorns, pumpkins, a wagon, and even a cute little squirrel resting on a log.  

So, for this blog candy, please leave a comment and tell me what you love about Fall.  I will draw a winner from the comments next Sunday, September 6, so be sure to leave me your email address so I can contact you.  Good luck!!

Life is Sweet

I was playing with some color combos for these 3-step flowers, and I stumbled upon this yellow combo that turned out so pretty!!  These flowers are from Papertrey Ink, and I stamped the three pieces as follows:

Solid flower - Daffodil (Stampin Up)
secondary layer - Saffron (Stampin Up)
shadow layer - Dijon (a new SU ink color)

The leaves are also from Papertrey Ink, and these are just a 2-step stamp.  I used Wasabi ink (Stampin Up) for the solid leaves and Mowed Lawn (Ranger distress ink) for the darker vein color.

The wood plank background is a fabulous background stamp from Stampin Up called Hardwood.  I stamped it with kraft ink onto white cardstock.  I love how it almost looks like it is whitewashed wood.  The sentiment was stamped with a dark brown ink and the card base is kraft.

I loved how these flowers turned out after several experimental tries.  Practice really does make perfect!  :-)

Celebrate the Season

I had an opportunity to play with some new stamps and dies from Stampin Up (they won't be out until September 1), and I created this card with them.  I love how the colored background turned out, and I will try to explain it for you here.

I started by sponging some Broken China, Evergreen Bough, and Wild Honey distress inks onto some watercolor paper.  I spritzed them with water and let them dry a little bit.  I was not happy with the way that turned out - the honey color just looked weird with the other two colors.  So I sponged over the whole thing with more Broken China ink, but it couldn't cover up the honey color very well.  So I pulled out my Dusty Concord distress ink pad and smooshed it all over the top of the card and spritzed it with water.  Much better!  I picked up the piece and let some of the purple color drip down into the blue and I was thrilled!  I set it aside to dry completely before I could move on with the card.

One of the new dies from Stampin Up is called Sleigh Ride and I cut it out of white cardstock, leaving the bottom portion wide open so I would have room to stamp a sentiment.  The sentiment is from a new set called Happy Scenes and I stamped it with Eggplant ink (SU color).

After making sure that the watercolored background was completely dry, I used a white gel pen to dot some snowflakes all over.  Then I adhered the sleigh ride piece to the bottom, and matted it with some white cardstock and an Eggplant card base.  It's going to be the perfect card to send in the mail as it is nice and flat and mail-able!  :-)  I'm already planning to make several different backgrounds and see how they turn out with this same die and sentiment on them.

Hearts in Rainbow

This card was another experiment, this time with a stencil and three colors of ink.  Yes, I only used three ink colors.  :-)

I laid a plastic stencil down over some white cardstock, sponged some yellow ink in the middle, some red ink on the left side, and some blue ink on the right side.  You can see where the yellow ink met the other two colors, it combined to make orange and green.  That was a fun discovery!

I kept this simple with some die cut hearts in white and a sweet sentiment from Stampin Up across the bottom.  The ink colors that I used are Strawberry Slush, Daffodil, and Coastal Cabana from Stampin Up.  Now I am curious to see if this will work with pastel colors and deep jewel-tone colors.  I think another experiment is in the works!  LOL

When You Dream

Howdy!  I'm back with another card, and I have to confess, I am in love with this one.  Like yesterday's card, this one started out as an experiment.

I stamped the flowers and leaves (all from Papertrey Ink) with different colors onto some kraft cardstock.  Just like yesterday's card, it was pretty, but I was in the mood for something different.  So I spritzed the piece with water just to see what would happen, and it softened the edges of all the flowers and leaves.  The colors didn't really run too much because I used Stampin Up inks instead of distress inks.  

Once it dried, I really loved the faded, dreamy quality of the flowers.  I decided to add a little shimmer by spraying the piece with Green Patina Perfect Pearls Mist.  Oooooohhhhhh!  I just love how that turned out!

I found a sentiment (also from Papertrey Ink) that seemed perfect to go with the dreamy background, and I added that to the side of the flowers.  This is one of those cards that I really want to send to my friend, and yet, I can't bear to part with it!  LOL  I guess I'm just going to have to make about 25 of these so I can keep one for myself.  :-)

Stamps - Bloomers, Daydreamer from Papertrey Ink

Ink - all from Stampin Up - Cherry Cobbler, Melon Mambo, Olive, Garden Green, Pretty in Pink, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Jet Black Archival (Ranger)

Cardstock - kraft and Cherry Cobbler

Other: rectangle dies, Green Patina Perfect Pearls Mist

Laugh with Flowers

Here is another card I made recently.  This was an experiment that turned out really neat, so I turned it into a card instead of trashing it.  :-)

I stamped the flower from Penny Black and then colored it with distress inks and a water brush.  I used Spiced Marmalade and Ripe Persimmon on the flowers, and then I went over the entire background with Tumbled Glass and Broken China distress inks.   It was pretty, but I wanted something different, something edgier.  

I spied my mister with water in it, and I wondered what would happen if I spritzed the water over all my coloring.  As you can see, the orange colors moved past the outline of the flowers and some of the blue was washed away from the flowers, providing a cool halo effect.

To enhance that halo effect, I sponged some extra Broken China ink around the edges and then I added a wee touch of Vintage Photo sponging as well.  I let the piece dry completely and then adhered it to a white card base and added the die cut "laugh" sentiment to the front.  The "laugh" die cut is from a Little Yellow Bicycle die that I found at Hobby Lobby.

I hope you are enjoying the cards I'm sharing.  I still have a few more to share with you, so stay tuned!  :-)  Have a great week!

Honey Hexagon Hello

Hello, dear friends!  I hope you are having a wonderful week.  Here is a fun hexagon card to share with you today.

I started by stamping the hexagons onto a white card base.  I wanted an autumnal ombre effect, so the bottom row is stamped with Spiced Marmalade distress ink, the middle row is stamped with Wild Honey distress ink, and the top row is stamped with Saffron ink (Stampin Up).  The sentiment and the butterfly were cut from Chocolate Chip cardstock and I added some yellow rhinestones to the body of the butterfly.

This card will be easy to mail as there are no bulky layers or embellishments.  Wouldn't this be a fun card to duplicate in dozens of other color combos?  :-)

Go Boldly

Here's a fun card to give to a sci-fi fan!  I created the background by dabbing some Dylusions paints onto black cardstock and then spritzing them with water.  Once the paints were dry, I dipped a brush into some white Dylusions paint and flicked it all over the colored black cardstock.

Once my galaxy background was dry, I added some planets and a rocket with the fun "go boldly" sentiment.  The stamps are from Paper Smooches - perfect for this space-y card!  :-)

I've still got some more cards to share with you, so stop by this week for a little visit.  Have a wonderful day!

Bamboo Shoots Bookmarks

I've been playing with some Color Bursts and I created this fun collection of bookmarks to share with you.  Color Bursts are watercolor powders, and you sprinkle them onto your cardstock and mist them with water to create all kinds of random bursts of color.  You never know what it's going to look like til after it dries, and that is what makes them so much fun!

I bought my Color Bursts from Classy Cards 'n Such.  These bookmarks were created with the Brights assortment of colors - http://www.classycardsnsuch.com/Complete_set_of_Brights_Assortment_by_Ken_Oliver_p/ccns-ko-all-brights.htm .  I am waiting for the new Earth Tones assortment to come out, and you can pre-order them here - http://www.classycardsnsuch.com/Earth_Tones_Assortment_by_Ken_Oliver_p/ccns-ko-earth-tones.htm .

All of the stamps are from Art Neko, as well as the bookmark sleeves and tassels.  Here are the links to the stamps:

Bamboo bookmark stamp, Breathe stamp, bookmark sleeves, and tassels:
http://artneko.com/displayItem/A382-SET1

Small bamboo/leaves stamp from this sheet:
http://artneko.com/displayItem/A279-FSHT

Thanks stamp from this sheet:
http://artneko.com/displayItem/A327-0018

Fall Leaves Scene

I don't know about you, but I am more than ready for some fall weather to arrive.  I created this card in hopes that these 100+ degree temperatures will fall down to a more acceptable 75 degrees.  LOL!!

I started by sponging some yellow and mustard and orange inks onto some white cardstock.  Next, I die cut the tree frame and stamped it with a woodgrain background.  I cut some pumpkins and sponged them to add more depth and I colored the stems with a Copic marker.  The rake was cut from gray cardstock, and then I colored the handle with a Copic marker.  The basket was cut from kraft cardstock and I colored the metal rims with a silver Wink of Stella brush.

For the leaves, I started by sprinkling some Brushos onto some white cardstock, and then I spritzed them with water.  Brushos are a watercolor powder and they are fabulous for creating backgrounds.  I used several different colors, such as red, brown, yellow, green, and orange.  Once these pieces were dry, I die cut the leaves and added them randomly to my card.

I can't wait for fall to arrive!  :-)

Picnic Basket Daisies

Hi friends!  I've been busy staying out of the heat and making some cards in the comfort of air conditioning.  :-)  This is a quick and easy card that I thought I would share with you.  The background is really fun to make.

I grabbed my Peacock Feathers distress ink pad and smooshed it directly onto some white cardstock until the entire piece was covered with ink.  Next, I misted a background stamp with water and then stamped it onto the inky cardstock.  I carefully lifted the stamp off and let the piece dry.  The water reacted with the ink so you can see the ghostly image of the stamp.  Isn't that cool?

The picnic basket is a stamp from Papertrey Ink and I simply colored it with some Copic markers.  I thought about adding a sentiment but I wasn't sure if I wanted this for a birthday card or a "have a nice day" type of card.  I'll add that when I use the card.

I have some more cards to share with you, so pop by and see what I've been creating.  Enjoy your weekend!