Get Well Cross Card

 Hello Everybody!

I made this card for a friend how had an operation a little bit ago.  So it's a get well card even though it doesn't say that on the front.

The cross stamp and the background embossing folder are both from Taylored Expressions. The color on the cross is actually Tim Holtz alcohol inks on yupo paper. I had made a background (well I made a lot of backgrounds). And thought this might look good.  I had other crosses that I stamped out but I couldn't color them right.  Or not at that particular moment. I love the bold colors of this background turned cross. Then I fussy cut it out. 

I am submitting this card into the following challenges:

The Creative Crafters #36 : Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Taylor Made Cards 4 U: Anything Goes Optional Theme: Friendship (I made this card for a friend.)

Thank you for stopping by! Until next time my friends stay healthy! :)

Tag of Magic

 Hello Friends!

Do you ever have a word for the New Year? I will see people post a word to describe the overall goal for the year-maybe like Happiness or Determined. I usually do not have a word. And I have gotten away from resolutions because they just don't seem to work for me. However! This year is different as far as the word goes. Stay with me. :) 

Somewhere I was inspired by the word Magic. My last project was about a magical garden place in a book. And I wasn't finished with the word Magic. And (I do believe God puts this on my heart) I wanted Magic to be my word for 2021. And not the scary voo doo kind but more like The Disney Magic kind of magic. Making people happy-especially folks who weren't expecting anything. 

So how can one be a bit more "magical" especially during a pandemic? Here is my answer-to fill up my family and friends' mailboxes over the year more than last year. I am working on more cards. I am going to mail out more cards. And really try. So this tag is an inspiration for that. Should I forget what my mission is-this tag will remind me :)

The base is a tag from a company that used to do wood laser cuts.  The actual letters are from grungeboard from Tim Holtz (way old and retired. I'm working on my stash). The stencil is Tim Holtz's, and I used light modeling paste.

Here is a close up of the stenciling.

Here are closeups of the tag. I covered it in gesso. And then I used tumbled glass, dusty concorde, and shabby shutters distress oxide sprays along with mustard seed stain and Kevin Oliver's colorburst-yellow, green, and blue. Also lots of water.  There was a lot of ink that I absorbed on watercolor paper. So there are cool backgrounds in the making :)

That beautiful pink on the word magic is from Sweet Rose Finnabair metallic wax. And then I glued Recollections silver micro beads on.   I lined the stencil back up to match the stars and used Silver Finnabair wax to go over the top parts of the stars. The sentiment-which I love, "I dream of stars that glitter" is from Tim Holtz's clippings stickers.  I outlined the stickers with a grey fine tip marker so the words would pop. And that is one of his paper dolls.

This is one of my favorite paper dolls.  I think because she is smiling and dancing around. And that is sort of like me. LOL. I could have been this kid. I colored her with two prismacolor markers. At first I thought the outline pink was too dark and I sort of blended it and then I used a lighter pink marker and by some sort of miracle (or was it magic? ;) ) the dress looked good and blended nicely.

I hope you like this tag and much as I do. I am exciting for the next few projects too. Make sure you check back :) 

I am submitting this tag into the following challenges:

Crafter's Castle- Anything Goes #37

Path of Positivity Challenges: #87 Look for the Positives. (I am going to try to be the positive and put more happy magic and love out in the world.)

Have a magical day! :)

Boo To You Digital Layout

 Hello Everybody!

Over at Kellybell Designs they are having a Template Challenge.  I used her Boo to You and Halloween Magic Collections to complete this page.

I was so happy to go to the Magic Kingdom for Halloween even though it was quite different from the Mickey's not so Scary party we usually go to (and I love!). Something is better than nothing. We were able to see characters-and villians at that! And then there were these little parade vignettes.  We got to enjoy one of the mini parades while standing in line. And we got to see Jack Skellington!  We always like a Halloween treat too-so we were able to get a Cheshire Tail from Ray's (who is back by the way. LOL he wasn't there last Halloween.) 

I feel like I am finally getting the hang of the digital layouts. I'm posting this for me as a reminder---If you have photoshop elements the secret is ctrl, atl, g all at the same time after you drop your picture in the area you want it. If you drop you picture-look at the layers and make sure it is above the space you want the picture to fill. :) I also love the these digital kits because of the different papers and embellishments. 

Thank you for stopping by! :)

The Magic Garden Mixed Media Display

 Hello Friends!

I am so excited to show you my newest project. There's a lot of pictures and even a video. 

First-I want to give a little story LOL so I hope you still have some coffee left. It's still the New Year and I usually don't do a word for the year. I have even stopped resolutions because I'm not good at keeping up with them. I make goals but that whenever it happens.

But I saw this challenge. And something sparked in my brain. I knew what my word for the year is-it's Magic. I want to create magic all year-and not the Dark Arts kind more like the Disney World kind. I want to send more cards and happiness to my family and friends. More than last year because last year was navigating this crazy unknown. It's still crazy and unknown but more known you know? LOL. 

And when I read about this challenge-I knew what I wanted to do.  I just hope my idea is translated into my project. :)

So the challenge that inspired this is the Art Daily Cafe (Finnabair).  

I am also submitting this into the following challenges:

613 Avenue Create-#1 Anything Goes

The Fairy and The Unicorn Challenge-Anything Fantasy 

We Love 2 Create: Anything Mixed Media Goes

The challenge is about book and fairytales. And what usually happens in fairy tales-Magic! (And remember I am sticking to the good kind here.) Magic that transports you into a story and you there are princesses and mystical creatures. And maybe a magic garden...

I am going to show you my finished project and then go into how I created parts of it. :)

This is a physical book. And this is where the Magic Garden is :) Complete with Tiny Lights.

Here it is with the lights turned off.

I was inspired by the original structure from the show Make It Artsy 609 by Julie Fei Fan Balzer and Joe Rotella. I had actually tried and didn't glue it well and put it away-until my inspiration hit me. 

So I got my book back out and used hot glue to put it back together. I had tried to use a strong sticky tape but it sort of fell apart. Hot glue (or maybe 3000 if you want to go that route) is the way to go.

If you watch the video-Joe saws a piece of wood for the base. I do not saw or really know much about wood type things so I bought a pack of rectangle wood pieces from Hobby Lobby.  I also bought a round one but it was too big.  I also glued pages together and painted them gold.

I do have a styrofoam cutter and used that on this piece that we got from some sort of packaging that I hoarded away. lol-I knew we would use it! ;)

Here is what the bottom looked like. The styrofoam went over but I think that is ok. I'm not going to put anything really heavy in the space without the wood support.

I used a Paige Evans stencil here.

I used wild honey-I love this color for yellow. And I tried to line the stencil back over-that did not work as easily as I would have liked so I matched where I could and used distress glaze over some of the stars and made new ones. 

I sprayed 3 different distress oxide inks over the opened pages.

Here it is so far.

Here are the colors that I used.

I painted the styrofoam with this golden green paint. And then I start to work on the Cathedral Window die from Tim Holtz. I used cardboard from a box. I made too and cut off the top part to make the window longer. I painted it with ranger white crackle paint.  (love crackle!) I cut a piece of acrylic sheet out and use (Tim Holtz) alcohol inks. Then I glue the top part of the window and the bottom part of the window to match up the middle parts.  I paint over it with crackle paint (which was a little difficult.  light modeling paste may have been easier.) and then I used a little black paint to distress it. Then I glue white cardstock behind it so the alcohol ink colors would stand out and not get lost in the book background.

Here's the finished window, and I just glued it to the book. I need the height. I also used the tallest Tim Holtz Paper dolls.

One of my favorite Finnabair products are the sparks paints and clay molds. So this is a Finnabair moon painted in sparks ginger magic.

Okay-so let's talk about these leaves for a minute. Originally I wasn't going to dress up the "trees" which you may have guessed are sticks from my yard. But somehow when I was looking through my random bits I found these leaves:

How old are the leaves? They cost 39 cents!!?!?! LOL So I used all of them on the tall tree. These are cool because they are soft and have wire stems so I just wrapped each on around. Woo Hoo! Use what you have! :)

Okay moving forward-there are Finnabair mold stars also. This adds great depth to the stars you can see from the glaze and then the muted stars covered by the "sky." I had them painted gold but it just wasn't magical enough so I used Martha Stewart glitter on them. I think glitter is magical :)

So I have random flowers like you see here and random animal figures. They are crafty hand me downs from various people. I don't even know where you would buy them. This turtle was white. So I painted him and added Finnabair vintage gold wax to bring out his shell texture. Also, I drew on his face with a prisma marker. There a bunny in the background and a wolf too.

These little mushrooms are from a Mod Podge mold. I painted them. And I covered the green styrofoam in fake grass and moss. I also had that "bush" in my fake grass box so woo hoo!  Behind the turtle is this squishy fake moss stuff and I hot glued it onto the second tree. I love squishing it! Weird I know.

Here's a side view and there's the wolf.

Lights off. 

Lights on....Magic! :)

Here is my video tour. :) (I'm very new at making videos fyi.)

Thank you so much if you made it this far! LOL.  I hope you have a magical day! :)

Curious Looking Mixed Media Canvas

 Hello Everybody!

I love mixed media but sometimes I want to play with my supplies but I have no idea what I want to create. I look at Instagram and Pinterest and I want to make those things but feel like I can't. So I just start. And this is how this Curious Looking Mini Canvas was created.

I used air dry clay and molds-Finnabair, one from Michaels, and a mod podge mold. I painted the little canvas black and used some finnabair was along the sides. I used spark paints and some little crystal things. And the perfect sentiment was curious looking from Tim Holtz. It was fun to make :)

Thank you for stopping by! :)

Butterfly Thanks Card

 Hello Everybody!

I feel energized by the new year.  I hope it lasts! 

I got out my Queen and Company bin. It's not an enormous bin but I would like to work on using the things in there. That way I have a better excuse to buy new stuff ;) LOL

This is a fun shaker card that I made. 

I have the butterfly die but I am now out of the foam bottoms that came with it.  However, I bought a pack of 4 sheets of foam and actually cut out my own. (It is Q&C foam sheets.) So I cut out the paper which I couldn't find my pack of q and c paper (Boo!) so I chose this so it would compete too much with the fun shaker on the inside. All those bits, the gems on the side and and thanks is a die from Queen and Company. The twine is from Hobby Loby. :)

Here is a close up. I love all of these little bits!

I am submitting this card to the Watercolor Wednesday Challenge:303 Karen's A/G Twist: Feminine Challenge.

Thank you for stopping by! :) 

More Gifted Background Cards

 Hello Friends!

I was trying to do a post a day but yesterday came and went in a blink of an eye! So here are my last two cards using the Taylored Expressions gifted background using these purple, pink, and blue colors.

So for these two cards I used the stamp and then the stencil to apply the distress inks over. Once you get the stencil lined up-the background is finished quickly. The card background is Stampin up Lovey Lilac. For this card the celebrate sentiment is also Stampin Up and it's stamped in Lovely Lilac ink.

For this card same as above except I used a Tim Holtz die cut for smile. And scraps (woo hoo!) and the stamp in Taylored Expressions. I love these simple strips!

Here the ink colors for the presents. Honestly, I didn't come up with this combo.  LOL. I looked on Pinterest. I feel like I don't match colors well and the wonderful people on pinterest have so many great examples LOL. :)

Thank you for stopping by! Until next time my friends! :)

Gifted Background Didn't Forget Birthday Card

 Hello Everybody!

I am not lying when I say I am obsessed with this stamp and stencil set. I made a few of these backgrounds using distress oxide and one distress ink. They rest is Taylored Expression. (except that paper that's either Michaels or Stampin Up. And the black ink is Memento.) 

I used these Taylored Expresson stamp strips and their corresponding die.  For the background of the sentiment strips even though you can get a die for that-I don't have that so I cut some black cardstock around the strips to make them pop out a little more.

For the inside I had a not great stamp imprint of the presents but I went ahead and inked them and cut them out.  I used 3 on the side to decorate the inside a little bit.

Here are my colors.

Thank you for stopping by! 

Gifted Background Birthday Card

Hello Everybody!

It is a new year and with that a little self reflection.  I am starting to know what my limits are-like I cannot make an elaborate costume or craft things out of wood.  I can't really work a saw and there wouldn't be room for one if I could.  But what I can do is make cards and various papercrafts.  I want to deliver a little magic to my family and friends in their mailboxes.  If I were to pick a word for this new year-it is magic. And I want to be able to make that happen.  

With that-I am trying to let go of perfection. A thing I put on myself all by myself.  That's what stops things from being created. My own "that won't be good enough."  The receiver doesn't know what it should look like per se. They are happy to be thought about. And life's not perfect. So here we go!

I bought this Taylored Expressions gifted background. They have this really cool process-it's more than a stamp. There is a matching stencil and matching die cut. I have become obsessed.

 

This card uses the stamp and stencil. The stencil is awesome in creating this change color effect on the presents. I have used this color scheme on a few more cards which I will share as the week progresses. A whole week of cards or projects! Yes please! 

So for this card I used Lovely Lilac cardstock from Stampin Up. The heart sequins are from Queen and Company. The sentiment is from rubber necker stamps stamped in lovely lilac with shaded lilac distress ink on the sides of the cut out sentiment. First I stamped the background and then used the stencil with distress oxides/inks in the picture below. I used my normal ranger round foam applicators.

Pinterest is a beautiful thing. That is where this color combo was that inspired me. 

I am entering this card into the Get Creative Challenges: Anything Goes no twist #97. (1/31)

So Cheers to a new year. Cheers to crafty fun and bringing a little more happiness into the world. Thanks for stopping by today! :)

Rainbow Card Challenge January!

 Happy New Year Friends! 

Welcome 2021! Does it feel different yet? LOL.

It's a new challenge over at the Rainbow Card Challenge. This month it's neutrals, and I hope you will join us!

First let me say I love neutrals! I love brown and black and grey. So I was overwhelmed because I really wanted to make a cool card.  So I looked at my pinterest board and found this card by Stacy at the Tattered Nest. (Go there after you see my card LOL).

So the technique for the background really inspired me and I will describe that some below. I used all Tim Holtz products for this card. :)

Here is the embossing folder and I stamped a tim holtz stamp in black soot on the flat part of the embossing folder (like Stacy explains to do). The stamp is the reversible one for a while back. I haven't used it in a long time so I was glad for the opportunity! I also sprayed the paper with water -and I used watercolor paper. Then I applied walnut ink and pumice stone with the foam applicators.

She shows using distress crayons also-so I used the vintage photo on the raised parts.  Tarnished brass is awesome in that it gives this delicate sparkle so I put that all over LOL.

I put a blend of pumice stone and walnut ink on regular paper and stamped the guys on it (also a Tim Holtz stamp) using ranger jet black archival ink. I took a water brush and outlined around them so I could tear the paper and you can see where the water reacted with the ink. I tore the paper along the water line so it would have a soft border and not a hard border like if I used scissors.  

The sentiment is from one of my all time favorite sentiment stamp set which is also Tim. I love the writing.  Then I inked the edges of the card with black soot distress ink.

I hope you will join us for our Neutral challenge! We can't wait to see what you make!

 

Until next time my friends...stay crafty!