Celtic Stars, Ghost Stamping & an Award !

Hello everyone, Happy Wednesday !    

A couple of days ago I received the Honor of the Liebster Blog Award from Sue at OlliesMam.      Thank you Sue for thinking of me, I appreciate it !   I've been fortunate to receive this award a few times and have passed it on.  But if you have chance, please visit Sue's Blog to see her beautiful cards.  She is a sweet lady and is on the Design Team for Splodge Away (UK). 

I have another sample for Designs by Ryn using her Celtic Stars again.     This time I tried the Ghost Technique on the background.

I stamped one of the small Celtic Stars from the Celtic Star Set CM-C7 with white Colorbox Pigment Ink.   Next I blended Mowed Lawn, Picked Raspberry & Peacock Feathers Distress Inks over top and then rubbed the images with a paper towel.     We learned this technique at the Magenta workshop but we used Pigment inks and maybe they work a little better.     I don't have the small ink pads but maybe a sponge will work, will try next time !      I stamped over the background with the same star using Colorbox Harbor Pigment Ink.

I embossed the large Celtic Star 3 CM-C5 with black and sprayed green Dylusions ink to color.  I highlighted the star with pink Dylusions Ink using the fine tip Ranger water brush.    I used a small strip cut from the background under the star with black matting.  I have some nice bling in my stash which I used for a finishing touch.  You can see it better in the close-up below.   I also added some holograph glitter with a glue pen in the centres of the stars.  (which look like snowflakes don't they?)   Merry Christmas is from Penny Black 3900H.

So again these are not traditional colors for Christmas but they are fun.

If you have a chance, please stop by Miranda's and Eileen's Blogs, both with lots of inspiration,  who are also on Ryn's Design Team.

Thanks for your visit and hope to 'see' you again soon !
Have a great day,
Shirley

Created by Saakje & and Thank you Ina !

Hello Crafters !    It was gorgeous here this weekend and we enjoyed it by watching our granddaughter's soccer games and working out in the gardens. 

If you are looking for my Blog Candy please go here:  Blog Candy   Draw is May 17th.

A few days ago, Ina from Little Bits of Craft  passed on the Liebster Blog Award to me.  I am thrilled that I have been given this honour three times recently.  I've already passed the award on the first time, but I want to Thank Ina for thinking of me, it really is appreciated.  If you have a chance please visit Ina's Blog, she creates beautiful cards  !

My passion for card making was 'given' to me from my creative Tante Saakje, who lives in the Netherlands.   Saakje gave me a beautiful hand crafted Christmas card in 2004.   It was created with Iris Folding and I was in awe by the beauty !   During a vacation in the Netherlands in 2006,  Saakje taught me the Dutch Art of paper folding, dry embossing and embroidery on paper.   I fell in love with it all and haven't looked back since !  A couple of years later during another Dutch vacation, I was introduced to the joy of rubber stamping by Saakje & my Cousins and that's when  I became a stamp addict !     I have a life time supply of papers for folding, beads & floss for embroidery, templates for embossing and now the drawers are getting stuffed with stamps & inks !     

A couple of days ago Tante Saakje emailed me photos of beautiful cards that she created.  I love them and wanted to share a couple with you !

Saakje explained the following about the above card:   

"I made the background by blending Mustard Seed, Evergreen Bough and Mahogany Distress Inks and then sprayed with Perfect Pearls.    I stamped Hero Art CG120 'antique writing' over the background & embossed with silver.   The flowers were created with Hero Art CL945 Blossom Art, also embossed with Silver and coloured with Peerless Watercolours."   

I am not familiar with these watercolours, but I think the results are gorgeous and I'm very proud of my Tante Saakje.  I also want to thank her for sharing her love of paper art with me !

This next card also created by Saakje is completely different !   Zentangle that she drew !  Love it !   She is concerned that this is not exactly as planned, but whatever the plan was, this is beautiful !

I love to Doodle and saw Zentangle for the first time again by Saakje.  She was visiting with me here last summer and we sat under the trees either working on Embroidery, Beading, Doodling, Zentangle or puttering in the flower gardens  !   We have so much fun sharing our same passions !   

Thank you Saakje for sharing your creations !

Again if you are looking for the Blog Candy promotion please find it here Blog Candy .  The draw is May 17th.    Good Luck in the draw ! 

Thanks for your visits, it's appreciated !

Have a great day

Shirley   

Anniversary Peacock Fan & Awards

Good Morning Crafters!   I've had an exciting few Blogging days !

On Friday I was thrilled to learn that I earned the Lovely Lotus Award from  For Your Inspiration  for their Photo Challenge #27.   Thank you ladies ! 

Yesterday evening I was honored a second time with the Liebster Blog Award from Maria at  Crafty Maria's Stamping World .    Maria is a Stampin' Up Demonstrator who also teaches classes and has a terrific Blog full of ideas, tutorials & beautiful cards.    Needless to say, I was excited to receive this award again so recently after receiving it the first time (when I forwarded it on to 5 others)   Thank you Maria !

And finally, I'm happy that I have many new Followers and would like to thank all of you for your visits & comments.  Without all of you, blogging would not be so rewarding.  I also enjoy visiting at your Blogs where I gather a lot of inspiration !

Now onto a new creation !    A friend asked me to create a card that she will give to her daughter & son-in-law for their First Wedding Anniversary.    Their Wedding theme was Peacock Feathers, and she asked that the design include Peacock feathers and the colours Emerald Green, Red & Purple.

I used stamps from Chocolate Baroque to create this card.  The two stamp sets:  Peacock Fan & Artistic Expressions.

The purple strip on the LH side was created by blending Grape Soda,  Sugar Berry & Gold Lame Smooch Inks and then I stamped one of the feathers from the Peacock Fan set with ColorBox Gold Pigment Ink over top.   I added a narrow red mat under this piece.

I stamped the same feather with Versa Mark on the folded green cardstock and just left it with a watermark image.   The color & stamping on the green shows up a little better in the closeup photo below. 

The LOVE sentiment from the Artistic Expressions set was stamped & embossed with Gold and then cut with Spellbinders S4-322 Grommet tag.  I blended Evergreen Bough Distress Ink over top.

The Peacock Feather Fan was stamped and embossed with Gold on Watercolour paper and then painted with my Tombows.    

Thanks for your visits and have a great day !
Shirley

I've been honoured with a Blog Award !

Hi there !    I've come down with a terrible cold which has caused me to lose my voice, cough too much and I have no energy.    Last night I was really feeling the effects but I was cheered up when I read a message that Sue over at Sue's Crafty Corner has honoured me with this Blog award !  Thank you Sue for all your kind words and visits to my Blog.   Sue creates beautiful cards, check them out at her Blog  !

I was curious about what the name of this award translates to in English.   So I googled and found that Liebster is German and most likely translates to mean Beloved or Favourite.   Very sweet !    This award is designed to help promote favourite Blogs that have less than 200 followers.  

Part of receiving the award means a little challenge and here are the steps I need to take:

Pass on the award to five other people, whose Blogs have inspired me,  and also as mentioned it needs to be someone who has less than 200 followers.

Add a comment on their blog, so that they know about it.

Link back to the person who gave me the award and thank them. (which I have done above ! )

Post the award on my blog.

It's challenging to just pick five.  Listed are the ladies (in alphabetic order) that I would like to give this award to for giving me so much inspiration and support.     I felt very honoured when Sue passed this to me and I hope you feel the same.     However it's also not necessary to me that you mention my name.

Donna at Creative Smiles
Ellen at The Serendipitous Stamper 
Helen at Crop Circles
Marja at Marja's Stamp Addiction
Miranda at 'Mir'acle art Inspirations

Thank you again Sue for being so kind and now I need to leave a message at the above Blogs !
Have a great day
Shirley