To Circle or not to Circle

Howdy!  I am back to share my second card for a 16th birthday. I created the same concept for the sentiment on both card bases.  I stamped the sentiment and numbers on white mixed media paper while I had the letters out and lined up.

On this card I decided to do a gradient shading of coral, orange, and yellow dye inks.  I sponged on the colors.  When I was done the card was pretty but lacked in any depth.

I then decided to use black and add the harlequin stencil to the background in various places.  I then sponged the edges with the black as well.  I finished with splattering of the inks and white paint. 

I added a hint of white outline to the sentiment.  Then I left it for a day and came back and felt like it still needed more movement or depth.

I brought in more circles black and white varying in sizes.  I love the effect but may still tweak it to see if the sentiment can pop more.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Doodley Doo

Over winter break my daughter asked me to create a canvas inspired by some she had seen on pinterest. It involved doodling lots of doodled flowers and leaves.  I was hesitant as I had not done any doodling successfully before.  I used the doodles on pinterest as my inspiration and created her canvas.  This inspired me to use the same concept on a 16th birthday card.

This was an interesting process as each step along the way I wasn't sure of how it looked or if I liked what was being created.  My advice is to go with it because you will be surprised by how it looks when you finish. :)

I was pleased with the end result of my doodling and more importantly my daughter liked it too!

I started with mixed media paper.  This would have worked even better with watercolor paper. I stamped the words and letters with Stampendous clear alphabet stamps lined up on a clear block with lines to help keep the letters straighter.

I then took a sharpie with a fine point and drew the flowers, leaves, and other images.  When I did the canvas I used a pencil on a gessoed surface.  I was able to erase most of my pencil marks but try this out before you spend a large amount of time and find the eraser is not removing the pencil marks.  After the pencil is done and you are happy you can then use the sharpie to draw the permanent outlines.  I tried a micron and another pen I had and a few of them tended to bleed.  So try all of your doodles on the surface before putting it on canvas or on paper.

After that I used a waterbrush and watercolor paints to paint the mix of colors.  The beauty of this is that you don't have to paint in the lines.  It is more of a free form painting and having extra or too little color is acceptable.

Well a long post for a simple project and I hope it inspires you to try doodling some lines on your next project.

Suzz

Glory to God

Merry Christmas! 

 I love layering images and stamps and creating the illusion of shadows. 

This card is a mix of stamps and a traced star from a spellbinder die.  I used my watercolor pencils to add shadows and layering of stamped images.

Merry Christmas!  Glory to God in the Highest!

Suzz

Luke 2:11

Happy Christmas Eve to everyone!  I have been playing in my craft room to finish up two cards to share with you today and tomorrow in celebration of the birth of Jesus.

I wish for you and yours a beautiful Christmas with all those you love.

Suzz

Winter Wonderland

Happy Wednesday!  The Funkie Team at the Frilly and Funkie Challenge Blog is sharing their projects for the Home for the Holidays Challenge.  Kathy is hosting the challenge and here is how she describes the challenge. "Let's get ready to Deck the Halls by creating some home decor for the holiday season.  You can make centerpieces, wreaths, banners, ornaments, wall hangings, or little vignettes  ...basically anything BUT a card for this challenge. If you don't celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, then just make some home decor with a wintry theme."

At the end of the challenge the team will choose their top four picks. Our first place winner will be invited to join us in a Guest DT spot here at Frilly and Funkie. Three additional talented participants will receive badges to display on their blogs. Everyone who enters and adheres to the challenge guidelines will be entered into a drawing to win a $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique!

I have had a few glass jars with metal tops sitting on my craft table for awhile and that inspired me to create a mini winter scape intended only for an electric tea light as I have flammable items inside my jar.

 I didn't take many photos of the steps along the way but I will share a few tips.

1. I die cut the trees from a lightweight cardboard which gave me flexibility in setting them around the edges inside my jar.  I painted them white and then added snow along the bottom with tape.

2.  The snow is a mix from Stampendous which I love because it has white embossing powder, mica flakes, and glitter all mixed together. It gives a beautiful wintery mix for you all ready to spoon out and layer the bottom of the jar. (Again highly flammable and not intended for wax candle!!)  I have linked up products from the store that will make a pretty snowy mix as well!

3.  I painted the top of the metal jar with a light white wash and then actually heat embossed the mix on the top. I repeated this multiple times.

4. I then glued my deer onto the top and while the glue was wet I threw more snow mixture onto the glue.

4. I painted my trees with white paint and then rolled them in crystal glitter while wet.

5. I painted my stars which were blue gem stars to match the trees.

6. I coated my pewter pine cones and Christmas token with white paint.

7. I attached the trees with glue and added a layer of glue on the base and sprinkled the magical snow all around the trees.

I didn't take a picture of the tree lit up as getting the shot is tough to show off how it lights up.  If you want more translucence you could cut the trees from vellum.

Don't forget to pop over and see all the other beautiful projects by the design team!

Suzz

Tim Holtz Idea-ology Decorative Deer TH93337	Ranger Embossing Powder - White	Ranger Embossing Powder - Weathered White Antiquities	Tim Holtz Distress Glitter Clear Rock Candy	Tim Holtz Distress Glitter Pumice Stone
Tim Holtz Distress Stickles Dry Glitter Clear Rock Candy	Sizzix Thinlits Die - Tree Line by Tim Holtz	Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Woodlands Mini Trees	Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Woodlands Tree Lot	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Adornments, Pinecones
Tim Holtz Jute Christmas Twine	Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber - Snow Cap White	Tim Holtz Idea-ology - Mirrored Stars	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Typed Tokens, Christmas	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tinsel Twine - Silver

Snowflakes

Well the weather finally decided to turn today. :)  We are seeing our first set of snowflakes and bursts of cold gusts of wind.  I figured why not share my snowflake ornament created for Darkroom Door using their new Snowflake background.  I even have a few step by step shots for you.

 This all started with a series of white snowflakes cut using the Sizzix Snowflake die. The bigger the die cut the easier to put them together.  Also you need an image that is symmetric for this to work.

Then I stamped each snowflake with the snowflake background using the Versamark embossing ink.

 After I stamped the snowflake with the ink I sprinkled a shimmery clear embossing powder. (I used Stampendous Kaleidoscope embossing powder one of my favorites.   You could also use clear embossing powder and sprinkle ultra fine crystal glitter onto it while it was still warm to get a shimmer.

 I then played with different dye inks to see what color I wanted my snowflakes to be.  I chose a gray dye ink, but I have to say the coral was really pretty!

 I did make a mistake because I didn't sponge the back side of the snowflakes in the same color. If you do this when you put together your ornament and if you don't line it up perfectly you won't be able to tell. :)  If you do sponge the dye ink on the back side.  Do this first before you stamp the other side and heat set the dye ink so when you assemble them the tape/glue will stick. I find that the dye ink has so much moisture that sometimes tape won't stick unless I dry (heat set) the ink.

Now to start the folding process...

 You will need to crease the snowflake down the center. I used my bone folder and my cutting board to line up the center. It is tough on those small ends to get it folded but work on the main crease and you can then work on the ends individually. 

You need to fold all your snowflakes.  I used five snowflakes on mine but you can decide how many you want and how full your snowflake is.

Once they are all scored you can now attach them to each other.  I used tape on mine but work with whatever medium you like. I used a stronger tape and my tape gun to get them to stick together. 

 Keep attaching them together until you have one left.  Then you are going to put your hanging device in the center with any charms you want dangling below the ornament.

I just used some thread and created a loop on one end and left the pieces hanging out the other end to tie my pearl charm to the bottom. 

 I really had to lighten the photo up for you to see the snowflake shape.  This makes me appreciate the cold weather as the snowflakes are beautiful!

Keep warm,

Suzz

Small Things with Great Love

Friday!  Yeah! I have been having a dry spell with my creative juices.  Today I decided that I was going to create something, anything to keep me creating.  I decided to use a new stencil with ferns and glimmer mist to start the art!

I misted the ferns in the background and then added a layer of stamped text.

I did this three times because I tried different effects on the ferns and ended up muddying them up. I persisted and on my third attempt I added the lovely Verses Rubber Stamps sentiment and wanted to have a flower coming across in in a different direction and the PaperArtsy flower was the right length and fit perfectly.

Of course I went to stamp it and it didn't get an even image.  Easy enough to fix with a second stamping on a second piece of cardstock.  Color, cut and pop onto the top of the original image.

Products:  The Crafters Workshop - Fern Stencil, Tattered Angels - Kiwi Glimmer Mist, 7 Gypsies stamp (text),  PaperArtsy Flower - Hot Picks, Ranger Archival - Potting Soil, Verses Rubber Stamps - Great Things, Stampendous Bronze Crushed Glass Glitter

Well I hope you have a fabulous Friday!

Suzz

Heartful of Coffee

Howdy!  I have been playing a little in my craft room but mostly had a bad cold which has kept me out of my craft room.  Since I started feeling better  I decided to try my hand at playing with coffee.  I am not a coffee drinker so I had to mix up a little paste with some grounds and warm water to kick this off.

I actually laid out my project two different ways and wanted to share the first layout because you can see the coffee background which started my project.

 I started with making a paste of grounds and water which I used to paint over a stencil on mixed media paper.  I then added a layer of glimmer mist sprayed over the surface and splattered in spots to add a lovely coral color to the background. 

After that I wanted to keep the texture of the grounds on my background before they completely dried and blew away from the paper.  I left the grounds on the paper and used a trick taught to me by Fran at Stampendous by pouring my clear embossing powder over the surface and heating underneath.  This captured the grounds and kept them on the surface of my paper to add a coffee texture.

After that I cut my shape of the heart from the background. I distressed the edges and used Aged gold embossing powder to give a golden tint. 

 I decided to stain a white doily with the coffee and then embossed the frame with the gold embossing powder.  I cut the center and stamped the image of the little girl over the surface.  I heat embossed this with clear embossing powder after splattering some coral color mist on the background. 

I then put the center back into the middle of the gold frame and added a mix of black and gold glitter around the edges.

The flowers were misted and then embossed with the gold embossing powder. I stamped the sentiment on a remnant of my coffee background and embossed the edges in gold.

This project was created with a few different challenges in mind:
Mixed Media Place - Creative Gym #17 - Coffee 

Vintage Journey - Industrial

Anything but Cute - Grungy Love

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Grateful Heart

Hello!  There is so much inspiration out there and I used the Vintage Journey's Industrial Challenge with the Mixed Media Monthly Glitter challenge to get my creative juices flowing.

I have to admit that I had this background laying around for a long time and it was calling to me to use it.  These were the last bits of the mist so I got a ton of shimmer from the gold left in the bottles and I laid down salt to help get the pooling of the color in a crackle effect.  I looked at how the mists had pooled and saw a heart shape. 

 I decided to use that shape and used a watercolor pencil to hand draw a heart shape to emphasize the pooling of colors.  I blended it with a waterbrush and added a mix of blue and brown watercolor pencils.

 I then  used the Stampendous Luxe Mix which I have to say is one of my favorite products because they have mixed up the mica flakes, and glitter to give a beautiful mix of texture.   I sprinkled it randomly over sections which already have a high concentrate of the glimmer from the mist.

 To add to my industrial feel, I stamped a bit of the definition stamp from Stampendous over the surface and highlighted it with the monocle and a pin to clip it on.

I found a lovely sentiment in the Tim Holtz Idea-Ology stickers and some tissue tape for texture.

Products:Heidi Swapp Color Shine, Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Monocle, Pin, Tissue Tape, Small Talk, Stampendous Gold Luxe Mix, Stampendous - Dream Text Stamp

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Suzz

New Beginnings

Hi!  I spent some time creating with some new goodies from Canvas Corp Brands for the Anything But Cute Challenge - Ring out the old and bring in the new and the Mixed Media Place - New Beginnings challenge. 

I recently received some new paints from the Tattered Angels and I wanted to play around with them along with my glimmer mist.  I followed the them of new beginnings with the inspirational words from a series of Stampendous stamp sets.

I started with a background with a stencil and the Tattered Angels glimmer mist.  I then came back in and used stencils and circles to create a series of circles painted and outlined with colored pencil.

I stamped the text using black ink over the background.  I used the remainder of the background to create a series of stars. I cut them out and stamped inspirational sayings.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz