Spraying Liquid Colour

It's time for a reminder card to join in the January CAS Mix Up challenge!

Liquid colours can be any colour medium that comes in liquid form.  It can be alcohol inks, re-inkers, stains, liquid paints, sprays, etc.

For my card, I chose sprays.

I used two shades of blue spray, one of which I misted over the mixed media cs and the other I took the applicator out of the bottle and dropped drips of it over the misted blue.  I wanted to use a bit of metallic silver spray as well but the applicator was clogged and all I got was a big splotch and a couple of droplets of it!  I liked the way the blues had turned out and didn't want to waste it so decided to use a silver cs for the cardbase to tie into the silver splotch!

I stamped and heat embossed my silhouette sprig and sentiment, and cut the panel out with a stitched rectangle die.  I popped it up on fun foam for some dimension.

I'm sending it to a friend that I exchange New Year's cards with instead of Christmas cards.

You have until January 24th to link up your card at CAS Mix Up.  Be sure to use stamping, liquid colours, and at least one other option from the list on CAS Mix Up.  My options are heat embossing my two stamps and die cutting my panel.

Supplies:

Stamps - Stampendous Silhouette Sprig, Happy Little Stampers sentiment

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black

Paper - silver and mixed media cs

Size - A2

Accessories - clear embossing powder, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die, two shades of blue spray, silver spray

Snowflakes and Text

Getting on with Christmas cards as I still need lots!  I find inspiration from all sorts of challenges.  Splitcoaststampers Featured Stamper last week was Bev Polen, aka guneauxdesigns.  I chose this card of hers to CASE in her honour.

I changed her butterflies to snowflakes:

Like Bev's card, I added some subtle text and some small die cuts.  But whereas she used her butterfly die to create a stencil, I used mine as a die cut.

I laid it over a panel of mixed media cs that I'd sprinkled with brushos and spritzed with water and then with homemade silver spray.  The background panel has a nice shimmer in real life.

Thanks for dropping by for a look!

Supplies:

Stamps - SU French Script

Ink - Memento Sky Blue

Paper - white and mixed media cs

Size - 6x4.25"

Accessories - Memory Box snowflake collage die, blue brushos, homemade silver spray, a blue sequin, small snowflake dies

CAS Mix Up Reminder Card

Don't forget to join in the fun at CAS Mix Up!  The August challenge is "sprays" and you have until August 24th to link up your card.

Here's my card to inspire you.  My choices are heat embossing (the birds and sentiment) and dry embossing.

I randomly sprayed some blue and pink sprays (to give the idea of the sky and the pink of the blossoms on the branch) on cs and trimmed out a section I liked.  I stamped and heat embossed the birds in black.  I found an embossing folder that co-ordinated well with the branches the birds are sitting on.  The embossed panel is popped up on fun foam for dimension.

The sentiment is heat embossed in Silver Pearl ep on black and trimmed into a banner.

Come on over and join us at CAS Mix Up.  Check the list of "your choice" options if you need ideas for what to add to your stamping and sprays.  And please remember to keep your cards clean and simple.

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black birds, SU sentiment

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, ColorBox silver

Paper - white and black cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Craft Concepts embossing folder, clear embossing powder, Wow Silver Pearl embossing powder, blue and pink sprays

Sprayed Journey

I'm having fun doing some of the Dare to Get Dirty challenges over at Splitcoast Stampers.  This one is also perfect for CAS Mix Up's August challenge of "sprays". 

My choices are watercolouring with Zigs, stenciling, and fussy cutting.  Here's my card:

 

I used a turquoise spray through a stencil and when dry, stamped the Journey Script in grey.  The focal image is also stamped, coloured with Zigs, fussy cut, and popped up on fun foam. 

It will go to a friend who is going to Italy for two months in the autumn (I'm so envious!!!).

Supplies:

Stamps - Stampendous vineyard, StampIt Australia Journey script

Ink - Ranger Archival Black, Memento London Fog

Paper - ivory cs, mixed media cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Memory Box stencil, blue spray, Zig markers

CAS Mix Up - August Challenge

I'm really enjoying being on the Design Team for Loll's and Bonnie's CAS Mix Up challenge.  The August challenge is "sprays":

See the side bar on the CAS Mix Up blog for a list of "your choice" options.

I chose sponging, stenciling, and die cutting as my options.  I had a yearning to use red and royal blue together on a card and came up with this:

I used mixed media cs for my focal image panel.  I partially sprayed over a Texture Mesh stencil with Memento Paris Dusk spray.  I didn't want the whole stencil to be heavily sprayed as I wanted to leave white space to keep my card CAS.  I then stamped and heat embossed my sentiment on it and die cut with a stitched rectangle.

I die cut my flowers and leaf spray out of white cs, and then sponged them with various red and green Distress inks.  I arranged them on the stenciled panel, gluing down the stems and popping up the leaves and flowers with foam tape.  The whole panel is raised off the cardbase on a piece of fun foam.

A blue twine bow finished it off.


You have until August 24th to show us how you combine sprays with stamps and at least one other element.  Link them up here.  Please remember cards must be Clean and Simple.

Supplies:

Stamps - unknown sentiment

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black; Distress Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Fired Brick, Festive Berries, and Barn Door

Paper - mixed media cs, white cs, PTI rustic white cs (for the cardbase)

Size - A2

Accessories - Memory Box poppy and leaf spray dies, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die, Memory Box Texture Mesh stencil, Memento Paris Dusk spray, clear embossing powder

Winging It with Mixed Media

Dini over at Splitcoaststampers proposed a Mix-Ability challenge called "Winging It".

I used up some odds and ends for this card - an odd sized piece of white cs for the cardbase, a corrugated cup sleeve, and a piece of smooshed Inka Gold background.

I punched the bird and branch out of the Inka Gold piece. I randomly painted some white Gesso on the corrugated cup sleeve. And I sprayed some gold spray on the card base to tie in to the gold in the bird and branch.

At first I set the bird on the corrugated panel but it didn't pop enough, and I wanted to work a sentiment in somehow, so the IO joy tag seemed the perfect solution. I embellished with a large gold gem on the tag and a small one for the bird's eye.

I'm also adding it to Dragonfly Journey's "Good as Gold" challenge.

Supplies:

Paper: white cs, corrugated cup sleeve

Paper Size: 3.5"x5"

Accessories: SU bird and branch punch, white Gesso, homemade gold spray, various colours of Inka Gold, gold gems, foam tape, Impression Obsession joy tag die

Mixed Media with Copper Tree

When I was at Loll Thompson's house recently, she generously shared her wonderful copper technique and supplies with us.  One of the pieces I made was the heated copper tree that I've used on this card for The Mixed Media Card Challenge "Trees":

My media are sprays, embossing paste, copper, ink, and embossing powder.

The copper was die cut with a Sissix die (the heavier duty dies are best with the copper) and then it was heated to get the colour variation you see.  I die cut two more trees out of scrap cs and glued the three together to raise it off the background a bit more.

The background is a piece of mixed media cs sprayed with various blue and green spray.  When dry, I used a star stencil and gold embossing paste on the blue part.  I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment and added the tree.  The whole panel is popped up off the card base with a piece of fun foam.

Thanks for dropping by!

Supplies:

Stamps -

Ink -

Paper -

Size -

Accessories -

Horses and Dogs, Part 2

A few weeks ago, I posted "Horses and Dogs, Part 1" where I talked a bit about the horses in my life and showed a couple of cards featuring horses.  I thought it was about time I came back and did Part 2 - dogs.  If you only want to see the cards I've made recently that feature dogs, skip down part way through the post.

I've lived with dogs my whole life.  As a child in England, we lived with my grandparents and their spaniel, Lass.  After we came to Canada when I was 10, we got our own family dog - a sweet little spaniel cross, Sandy.  She was followed by a larger spaniel cross, Sasha.  So I seemed destined to have spaniels in my life.  But my first dog as an adult was a rescue Husky / Samoyed cross, Usk, that my boyfriend and I had.  He was so bonded to my boyfriend that I wanted a dog that bonded more with me so I went back to spaniels and we bought a Springer Spaniel puppy, Sheena - to my dismay, she bonded more with the Husky / Samoyed dog than with me!  After the two of them had died, my then-husband and I bought another Springer, Jessie, who saw me through some of the worst parts of my life - divorce, ill health, the death of one of my best friends.  

As Jessie got older, I knew I didn't want to have a period of time without a dog and I knew I wanted to go slightly smaller as I got older, so I got Will - the adorable English cocker who I still have.  I got him as a tiny puppy and when he was three years old, his breeder got back his sister from a neglectful home and asked me to take her.  By then, Jessie had died (a huge heartache as she'd been with me through so much) and I was ready to have two dogs again so along came my sweet Shea.  It took some time to make her feel safe and secure but after awhile, Shea became the most loving and gentle of dogs who followed me everywhere - probably the most bonded of any dog I've ever lived with.  Will and Shea became the best of friends, and when she died of cancer this spring, Will grieved as much as I did.  Here are the two of them (Will is the black one, Shea the brown one):

Will is now 11 - average life span of English cockers is 13 or 14, so after losing Shea too soon, I'm hoping Will keeps on going as his usual robust healthy self.

Now on to cards.  Of course, I have bought whatever English cocker stamps I can find since I started card-making.  And lots of my friends who come to my fundraiser Christmas card sale love dogs so I have quite a few dog-themed Christmas stamps.  Here's one that is both English cocker and Christmas:

I was at Loll Thompson's house recently for a fun day of trying different techniques. One technique we did was spraying cs with various colours of spray, then running it through an embossing folder, and then rubbing Inka Gold over the top of the raised parts. I used one of my pieces for the background of this card.

My focal image is stamped in grey and then heat embossed in a sparkly ep called "marcasite". I used metallic pens to colour the ribbon blue and the sleigh bells silver. It looked a bit too stark so I sponged Distress Stormy Sky around the edges to soften it.

I twisted silver cord around silver ribbon and threaded two metal mini sleigh bells on it for the SCS Ways to Use It challenge "Make It Metal".

All the layers are attached with foam tape so it has nice dimension in real life.

It's also for the September theme "snowflakes and blue" for the SCS Christmas Card Challenge, for the Less is More challenge "sprays", and for the Addicted to CAS challenge "blue".

And here's a non-Christmas one using one of my favourite English cocker stamps.  This particular stamp really makes me think of Shea - the pose, the shape of the head, and the expression.  I made this to send to her breeder to thank her for sending Shea to me and giving me 8 lovely years with her.

I stamped it in Vintage Photo as that colour is very close to her colour. I did a background of stars as the kennel is called Eclipse and the breeder loves all things cosmic.

I made it with a few challenges in mind:

Less is More blog to use sprays - I sprayed a star stencil with gold Mr Huey's spray.
Last week's SCS Color Challenge - gold and vanilla.
The current SCS Free for All challenge - add something gold to the card - I used a gold spray for the stencil and dark gold cs for the border and die cut.

I'll be back again tomorrow with a couple of fun dog Christmas cards.

Supplies

Christmas card:

Stamps: Creative Images
Paper: white cs
Paper Size: A2
Ink: Versafine Smokey Grey, Distress Stormy Sky
Accessories: various sprays, silver Inka Gold, Stampendous Marcasite embossing powder, Cuttlebug embossing folder, silver ribbon and cord, silver mini sleigh bells, Atyou Spica blue and silver metallic pens, foam tape

Thank you card:

Stamps: Grey Wolf Graphics spaniel

Paper: dark gold cs, Gina K ivory cs

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Distress Vintage Photo

Accessories: Mr Huey's gold spray, Hero Arts star stencil, Dee's Distinctively Thank You die, foam tape

Mixed Media Peace Doves

My last few cards have been what I call my "old style" - pretty straightforward stamping, colouring, either some dp for the background or a bordering layer.  So the last couple of days I was yearning to get back to my "new style" of using some of the newer products like stencils, paste, sprays, etc. and ending up with a more mixed media type of card.  Yesterday's SCS Inspiration Challenge totally fed into this - to be inspired by one of the pins on a mixed media Pinterest site.  I found this pin and immediately knew what I wanted to do - turn it into a Christmas card with a "peace on earth" theme.

Here's my result:

 

I kept the layout, the general design, the colour scheme, but changed the ravens to doves and the sentiment to peace.

I used three different sprays to get the background, and then flicked some dark brown Twinkling H2O paint on it with a paint brush.  I used a star stencil (made for me by my always generous friend, Loll Thompson) with a gold embossing paste instead of the little triangle stencil on the inspiration.  I stamped my sentiment in dark brown and die cut the doves out of dark bronze shimmer cardstock.  I edged the panel in the same dark bronze.

Supplies:

Stamps: Tim Holtz sentiment

Paper: mixed media cs, dark bronze shimmer cs, PTI vintage cream cs

Paper Size: A2

Ink: Distress Walnut Stain

Accessories: homemade star stencil, Memory Box dove dies, Dreamweaver gold embossing paste, Lindy's Stamp Gang Long John Silver spray, Mr Huey's Shell spray, Distress Antique Linen spray stain, dark brown Twinkling H2O paint