Hope Anchors the Soul

Happy Friday, everyone!  This week's Mixability Challenge over at Splitcoast is 'Put a Bird On It'....my card has four sea gulls.  Though my card doesn't appear to be 'mixed media', I have used multiple mediums: Stazon permanent ink, Dye Ink, Distress Ink, Clear Glaze Pen, White Gel Pen, and markers.  Most of the items used are from Divinity Designs LLC: 'Anchor the Soul' stamp set, Blending Brushes, Foam Mounting Tape, and the following dies: A2 Pierced Multi Windows Die, Clouds and Raindrops (created a stencil), Cowboy and Cactus Silhouettes, Matting Rectangle, and A2 Landscape Card Base with Layer. The scene was stamped, sponged, partly colored with markers, highlighted with watercoloring, with glaze and gel pens adding the finishing touches.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Thankful and Grateful

Hi, everyone!  This week's Mix-ability Challenge over at Splitcoast is to incorporate metallics in your mixed media project.  For my card, I began creating the background with the Wrinkle Free Distress (or Smoosh) technique....dab several colors of ink pads onto a craft sheet, spritz with water, then 'dip' your cardstock into the puddle to soak in the colors.  Once dry, the panel was gold embossed with the Leaves Background by Divinity Designs LLC.  The sentiment panel was cut from the original WFD piece.  The sentiment from 'Bountiful Blessings' was gold embossed. The dies used for this card are also from Divinity Designs: Vintage Labels 2, Pierced Vintage Labels 2, Pierced Rectangles, Matting Rectangle, and A2 Portrait Card Base with Layer.  Blackberry Bliss ribbon, gold cording, and gold foil cardstock were also used to coordinate with the gold embossing powder and ink colors.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Be Still and Know

Hi, everyone!  Today I would like to share a card which was created about a year and a half ago but did not get posted anywhere.  (I have about a hundred cards with the same status....life gets in the way of blogging, ya know?)  Today's Friday Free 4 All Challenge is about 'Peace' and the Mixability Challenge is about 'Contentment'....I thought this card fit both of those challenges...my faith brings both peace and contentment.  The background panel (and top cross panel) were created with the Wrinkle Free Distress Technique (some call it the Smoosh Technique), by dabbing ink pads onto a craft mat, spritzing with water, then laying the cardstock in the puddle.  Once dry, the background panel was stenciled with both the Flourishes and Arrows Mixed Media Stencils. The scripture verse from 'Be Still' was heat embossed with pewter onto the 'yellow' Wrinkle Free Distress panel, then cut out with the largest of the Cross Layering Combo Dies set.  Other dies used: Bitty Blossoms, Pierced Rectangles, Matting Rectangle, A2 Portrait Card Base with Layer.  Pewter brads were added to the corners to coordinate with the embossing powder.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Blessings,

Happy New Year Snowy Deer

Hi, everyone!  This week's Featured Stamper over at Splitcoast is Tina Wardell aka harleygirl50......congrats, Tina!  I chose this beautiful card as inspiration to help me create a bundle of Happy New Year cards to mail out next week.  I began by cutting a panel with the Double Stitched Squares Dies; left the panel in the die and sponged the background over scratch paper with navy ink.  The tree and deer images from 'Deer Silhouettes' were stamped in navy, then white acrylic ink mixed with water was flicked over the scene.  Once the paint specks were dry, the panel was matted with navy and adhered to a white card base. The greeting is from the 'Celebration' set.  (All of the products used are from Divinity Designs LLC.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Simple Moments

Hi, everyone!  This week's Inspiration Challenge over at Splitcoast is to find inspiration from Ballard Designs.....I flipped when I saw this cool Patriotic Rooster Art.....perfect to try out a new stamp set, Home To Roost. from my recent Stampin Up order.  The rooster was stamped with Stazon Navy ink and partially colored with SU markers.  Dye ink re-inkers were mixed with white acrylic ink to paint some of the rooster plus the background, as in the inspiration painting. Though the rooster was finished, I had no ideas for a card design, so I waited for the Featured Stamper challenge....this week's featured artist is Joanne aka kenaijo....congrats, Joanne!!  I chose this gorgeous card to help me create a card for the rooster panel.  I used the same embossing folder for the background, along with the same layout and button in the corner.  The following dies from Divinity Designs were also used: Double Stitched Rectangles, Double Stitched Squares, Squares, Double Stitched Pennant Flags, and Pennant Flags. This card will go into my masculine birthday stash.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Bless You and Keep You

Hi, everyone!  Today I would like to share a birthday card which I created for a dear friend and former co-worker.  The image from 'Best Dad Ever' was stamped with Stazon Jet Black onto designer paper from the Divinity Designs 'Weathered Wood' Paper Collection.  The image was colored with markers, water-coloring, colored pencils, a white gel pen and a clear glaze pen.  The image panel was cut with the Divinity Designs Squares Dies, edges sponged, and matted with the Double Stitched Squares Dies.  The caramel panel was dry embossed with the 'Fish' Embossing Folder, sponged with matching ink, then matted with gray.  The button was created by cutting five pieces with the Double Stitched Circles Dies, adhering them together, punched the button holes with a Crop-o-dile, then coated the top layer with a clear glaze pen.  The banner was cut with the Double Stitched Pennant Flags Dies from the same pattern paper as the image panel.

Thanks for visiting today!

Blessings,

Royal Shaving Cream

Hi, everyone!  This week's Inspiration Challenge over at Splitcoast is to find inspiration from the glass works at Isle of Wight Studio Glass.....I'm a sucker for royal blue and white, so I chose this awesome vase and tried the shaving cream technique with Brilliant Blue ink.  It didn't come out as marbly as I planned since hubs only had shave gel instead of shave cream.  Since it didn't foam up, I had to get creative and move the ink around with the cardstock and swirl it around a bit.  It ended up to be one giant mess, so while I was inky, I made about eight different panels by adding different colors and designs with a paste knife.  Now I have a stash of backgrounds for later.  Once the panel was dry, it was adhered to a card front, a frame cut with the Divinity Designs Custom Pierced Rectangles Dies was popped with foam tape and the sentiments from the 'You Bless Me So' Stamp/Die Duos set were added.  I didn't want to cover up the background, so the only embellishments added were three sparkly blue sequins.

Thanks for visiting with me!

Blessings,

Mixed Media Sunshine

Hi, everyone!  My card for today combines three challenges over at Splitcoast: Color Challenge of peach, espresso, and light blue; Mixability 'Array of Sunshine' Challenge ; and Friday Free4All 'Orange' Challenge.  The background panel was created with the Wrinkle Free Distress Technique....espresso brown, peach, and light blue ink pads were swiped onto a craft sheet, spritzed with water, then white cardstock mopped up the colors.  Once the panel was dry, it was cut out with the Divinity Designs Custom Double Stitched Rectangles Dies, the sun and sentiment from 'Hello Sunshine' were stamped with Stazon Jet Black, then the sun was colored with both markers and water-coloring.  White chalk pen was added to highlight the clouds.  Three strands of blue baker's twine were cut and laid across the card;  they were curvy from being on the spool and I like how they looked laying on the card, so I knotted the end and glued them down in the natural shape.  Kinda weird and out of the normal for me, but I like it!  The panel was matted with espresso brown and adhered to a white card.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Have a blessed weekend!!

Faith, Hope, Love, and Alcohol Ink

Hi, everyone!  Today's Mixability Challenge is to incorporate Love/Hearts into our mixed media projects.  I've been playing with alcohol inks and Yupo paper all morning and came up with a design for today's challenge.  I began by inking a panel with two pinks and one purple alcohol ink....I worked it quite a bit with a little mixative until it became a pretty solid consistency since the 'Bookmarks - Faith, Hope, Love' stamps (by Divinity Designs) had a lot of flourishes which I didn't want to get lost.  Each stamp was inked one at a time with Alcohol Lift Ink and pressed onto the inked panel; a clean cloth dabbed the lift ink to reveal the ghosted images.  Once each was lifted, I stamped off onto a piece of cardstock which I will use for a project at another time.  When finished, the panel was cut into strips.  The Clean and Simple Challenge this week is 'Bands of Color'.....I'm hoping that the strips and diagonal swipes of purple count as bands, otherwise, the challenge police may come after me! :) To finish the card, pink baker's twine, white heart sequins and tiny pink pearls were added.  I will also be submitting this to the 'Love Is In The Air' Challenge over at the Card Concept Blog.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Blessings,

Find Refuge / Gouache Watercolor

Hi, everyone!  Today I stepped way out of my comfort zone and tried a new technique, for the Mixability Challenge over at Splitcoast, which was a bit messy and my fingers are stained....eek!  (Next time I will wear rubber gloves! lol!)  The technique is called 'Gouache Watercolor'.....since I do not own any Gouache paint, I created my own by mixing watercolor re-inkers with acrylic paint.  With a wet sponge, the different colors of the hybrid paint mixtures were dabbed onto the panel.  Since my hands were already messy, I created several more panels to use in the future.  Once the panel was dry, it was cut out with the Divinity Designs Custom Pierced Rectangles Dies.  The Friday Free4All Challenge theme at SCS is 'I might use this someday'......I dug into my scrap bin and found this 'Find Refuge' Bible Journal image, already cut out, plus a bunch of feathers.  All I had to do was color them...yay!!  

Thanks for visiting!

Blessings,

God Is Good All The Time

Happy Saturday, everyone!  This week's Inspiration Challenge over at Splitcoast is to find inspiration from the Lakeside Collection.  I chose this awesome wall clock so that I could combine the Friday Free 4 All 'One Layer' Challenge and the Mixability 'Clock' Challenge.  For my card, I began by masking off a square with post-it paper, then swiped the exposed card with ink pads and white-washed with acrylic paint for the 'faux wood' look, then stenciled various numbers. The clock hands and sentiment are from the ODBD set, 'God's Timing'.  Once the mask was removed, the card looked a bit plain, so I used the same die from the ODBD Custom Double Stitched Squares Dies to emboss around the inked section.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Mixed Media Dream

Hi, everyone!  Today I stepped out of my comfort zone and played in the Mixability Challenge over at Splitcoast, which was to use different types of text on your card.  I am also playing in the Friday Free4All Challenge, which is to use a stamp or stamp set which has never seen ink before, so I chose the 'Elements of Style' set by Stampin Up and a misc text stamp which I bought at a scrapbook store over ten years ago.  I began by creating an inked panel using the Wrinkle Free Distress Technique (caramel, kraft, and blush dye inks were swiped onto a craft sheet, spritzed, then mopped up with the cardstock).  Once the panel was dry, the text stamp was stamped with Stazon Jet Black.  Each section of the stamp was torn, inked, then adhered to a Cherry Cobbler card base.  White acrylic paint was lightly painted over the text; the floral image from 'Elements of Style' was stamped with Stazon, then the flowers were colored with Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, and Always Artichoke markers.  The 'Dream' letters (from Top Dog Dies) were cut and adhered.  I decided not to add any embellishments so that it could be mailed with one stamp.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Butterfly Sunburst Hello!

Happy Saturday, everyone!  This week's Inspiration Challenge over at Splitcoast is to find inspiration from the Tim Holtz Mania Pinterest Board.....I chose this amazing card for my inspiration today. I couldn't find the stencil I wanted to use for this card, so instead I dry embossed and stenciled the ODBD Custom Sunburst Background Die.  The butterfly and its mat were cut out with the ODBD Custom Fancy Fritillary Dies set.  Ranger Antique Linen distress ink was used for both the butterfly and sunburst, then a little blackberry ink was added to the edges to match the ODBD Custom Hello Die and blackberry mat layer.  Irridescent Gold Glimmer Mist was heavily sprayed onto the background and butterfly and a gold metallic card base and gold sequins were used to coordinate with the shimmer.  Unfortunately, the photo did not turn out great, even after multiple shots.  It's very golden and shimmery in real life! I will also be submitting this to the "Less is More" (Use a Stencil) Challenge and the June Fan Club Central Theme at SCS (all about angles).

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Time To Celebrate!

Happy Saturday, everyone!  This week's Inspiration Challenge over at Splitcoast is to choose your inspiration from the Abstract Art Pinterest Board.....I chose this stunning piece because I loved the colors and clock theme.  This card is for my brother who just graduated from college....congrats, Sean!!!  I knew I wanted to make a partial clock face with the ODBD Custom Numbers Dies, but I didn't have a circle die large enough, so I traced a roll of tape and cut a partial circle to sponge the black outline onto the card base which was cut with the ODBD Custom Pierced Rectangles Dies.  The panel was then smooshed into a mixture of teal, brown, and rust inks plus Gold Glimmer Mist instead of water.  Once it was dry, some sponging was added and the clock face image from 'God's Timing' was stamped multiple times.  A portion of a sentiment from 'Time' was stamped to coordinate with the 'Celebrate' from the ODBD Custom Celebrate and Wish Dies set.  The clock hands were cut from the ODBD Custom Matting Circles Dies set and trimmed evenly with the mat's edge. After adding three black brads to the corner, the matted panel was adhered to a black card base.  Woo hoo, another flat card to mail with only one stamp!! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,