Day 4 - International Mixed Media Week + FUSION!

I am continuing the International Mixed Media Week festivities (you can read more about this farce in my blog post from Monday)!!

It's also another day of celebration because the latest FUSION challenge has arrived!

 

If you haven't played at FUSION before, you can choose either the sketch OR the image, or you can mash them both together and create a fusion! I hope you'll come play along with me! 

Just look at that dreamy inspiration image!! I was totally and completely inspired to create a watercolor piece using the bright colors. 

If you were here earlier in the week, you would have seen the two Ken Oliver Color Burst backgrounds I created, along with my promise to tell you what I did with the second one later. Welp, it's later.

For this card, I wanted to let the Color Burst crystals do the shining. So I decided to add some mixed media bits and bobs, but made sure to keep a lot of color as the focal point. 

Like my first card, I used some glossy black embossing paste, but this time I used it through a delicate Winnie & Walter stencil and only in selected areas. 

I grabbed a bunch of different buttons and metal gears and started painting them black. 

If you want to paint metal successfully, add a layer of gesso to it first. Then let it dry and paint over it with black. My buttons all started out with these pastelly colors that wouldn't have matched my design at all! 

I adhered my bits and bobs to my background, and then selectively highlighted some pieces with InkaGold to give it a little more visual appeal. 

I added Distress Crayon around the edges and smudged, along with a white gel pen border. I finished off the look with some sentiment stickers by Tim Holtz. 

Taaaaadaaaaaa!

I should also mention that part of the reason I chose to use the bits and bobs was because I also wanted to play along in the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge: Buttons. 

I'm also going to link my card up to Crafty Gals Corner - Buttons, and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Bit o Green.

Thank you all for popping by! I hope you'll go see what the rest of my teamies have made because you DON'T want to miss out on this inspiration!

Vintage Chic Card - Valentine

I know... I know... it's the day after Valentine's Day and I should stop already, but I just can't! I've whipped up SO many valentines this season and I've still got a few more to showcase. 

Case in point? This one that I designed for the latest The Card Concept challenge, which hit the internet TODAY. 

Isn't that inspiration image a beaut? I love all the vintagey goodness going on and was super inspired by the scrawly script and leather heart. 

So I decided to make some paper leather. 

Check that out! This was made with a combination of Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Antique Linen, and Tea Dye Distress Inks - using the Distress Ink Double Dipping technique. 

Next, I brought out a lovely little cardboard heart and did some alterations to give it texture and life. 

I started by using Vintage Photo Distress Paint over the surface of the cardboard and, while it was still wet, sprinkled some Rust Embossing Powder over the top. I heat set it with my embossing gun and edged the heart with a coppery InkaGold. 

To bring in the scrawly script, I used a big background stamp and added a layer of Distress Crayon and Distress Spray Stain splatters, edging the whole panel in InkaGold to tie it in. 

Put it all together and what do you get? Taaaa daaaa! 

I hope you'll go check out the other awesome inspiration on The Card Concept blog and then play along! 

I'm going to enter my card at the following challenges:
Mixed Media World - Anything Mixed Media Goes
Try it on Tuesday - Let's Get Messy with Paints/inks

Coffee & Books Stamped Gift Set

Hello homies! Today I've got a card gift set that I'm gonna show off.

I don't know about you but I L-O-V-E to give presents! And I also like to make friends. Which puts me (and my wallet) in a conundrum when it comes to Christmastime. This year, I've decided to make a card gift set tailored to each of my friends' personalities.

I have one particular friend who loves coffee and loves books, so I broke out the new Good Books & Coffee stamp set and the Literary Caffeine-ations stamp set and got to work. 

I used all different shades of Tim Holtz Distress Crayons to smudge and smear and create an artsy (but very easy) coloring technique. 

I just LOVE the sayings in the Coffee & Books set (I know I'm biased because I designed them) but they are perfect for anyone who loves coffee as much as I do. 

And now I have an easy peasy little giftie to give a friend. 

This set is going to go play along in:
Crafty Creations: Masculine Challenge
Crafty Gals Corner - Anything Goes

 

And of course the Coffee Lover's Blog Hop. 

PURPLE! Mixed Media Card with Tutorial

Anyone else out there excited about all the purple cards beautifying the interwebs as of late? I know I am. Thank you SO much for all who have participated in the Hop to Stop this month. I've sent mental high fives to ALL of you!

This post also is going to serve as a reminder to go get your STAMPlorations on and join in on the latest challenge. We've got both a sketch AND a theme so there are plenty of options for you to choose from. Just do it already!

I was in my craft room last weekend and decided I wanted to get really messy. I had a leftover sheet that I'd sprayed with shades of purple Distress Inks for THIS CARD and I stared at it all googly eyed before I decided to just start playing.

I took out my Picked Raspberry Distress Paint and made some random circles (a la the STAMPlorations sketch) and then I ringed the pink with Picket Fence Distress Paint. I used my finger to swirl around the paint and blend it together. Since the Distress Spray background hadn't reacted yet with water, some of the purple color seeped into my wet paint and created a lovely blend of colors.

Next, I used the Folk Flowers set designed by Shirley B for STAMPlorations. I took what was supposed to be the stem of the flowers and bent them in the shape of my circles to create an outline. And then I embossed with white.

I also took my Picket Fence Distress Ink and added some small white circles to my big pink circles.

The last step of the background was to use my Dots All Over stencil and sponge Wilted Violet distress ink to create another layer of circles.

I stamped some of the Folk Flowers onto a piece of scrap paper and colored and shaded with my Distress Crayons.

Then I cut them out and pieced them together. Aren't they so funky and adorable!?! There's a million random flowers you could create from this set. (Believe me. I did the mathematical calculations) (don't really believe me - I have a degree in English, not math you sillies).

I stamped a big ol' sentiment from the Big Greetings sentiment kit and colored it in with purple Faber Castell Big Brush pen.

I also added some little sequins to the background and to one of my flowers.

Then I put it all together and said Taaaaa Daaaaa really loudly. :)
This card was so much fun to make and so much fun to stare at. Fun all around!

Make sure you head on over to STAMPlorations and check out the rest of the design team's handiwork!

I'm going to link this up to Seize the Birthday's lots of leaves challenge and Little Red Wagon's Let's Party - Happy Birthday challenge.

______________________________________________________________

Now - Just a reminder that the Hop to Stop is in full Hopping mode. Last year we had 238 linkups and I'm SO hoping to beat that. 

If you're wondering what the Hop is - it's a blog hop designed to raise awareness for victim's of domestic violence during National Domestic Violence awareness month. 

One in three women will experience domestic violence over the course of their lives. One in three. 

Please consider making a purple card and to help build awareness for such an important issue. <3 

As a bonus, the hop has over $700 worth of prizes that will be given away by extremely generous sponsors.

Happiest of Birthdays to the Happiest of Bosses

Light the candles! Sing the songs! Open the presents!
It's the birthday of our fearless STAMPlorations leader, Shery Russ!

We're having a surprise hippity hop to say HAPPY B-DIZZLE in the craftiest way we know how.

My card brings together some mixed media with a background made of Distress Crayons and gold texture paste. I used a golden sun die cut, some gemstones, and pre-typed sentiments from Tim Holtz.

I wanted to go with a sun motif because Shery is absolutely the sunshine in all of our STAMPlorations girls' lives. She is so generous, kind, and super talented to boot. 

Wishing you a day filled with sunshine - today and always, Shery!

This card was inspired by the moodboard up at the Lawnscaping Challenge: I loved the summery yellows/golds and teals, as well as that cross art shape.

I'm also going to link it up to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Anything Goes.

Thanks for popping by! Have a lovely day!

Sunset Card - Mixed Media Card Challenge

SUMMER! I know that technically summer doesn't start until June 20th, but it's been soooooooo beautiful up here in the prairieland that I'm beginning to believe the calendar is wrong. Either that or I'm somehow living in a parallel universe of good weather. 

I'm talking sun-dappled, breezy days followed by evenings of rolling thunder dampening the land... ahhhhhhhh... 

But I digress! (as usual!)

Today I'm here to show you a card that was inspired by the lovely weather AND by the Mixed Media Card Challenge for this month. 

The theme this month over at Mixed Media Card Challenge is Sunset with the option of postage stamp.

I started out with grandiose plans, thinking I'd sponge a whole scene and create a masterpiece on a card. 

....Instead I scribbled....

And it was fun. 

Haha! Seriously! If you guys haven't noticed by all of my posts lately, I've been having a blast experimenting with the different things Distress Crayons can achieve. 

Normally, When I do a Distress Crayon card, I try to blend the colors together by smearing with my finger. This time, though, it seemed somehow wrong. I liked the scribbly scrawly feel of their non-blended origins.

So I left it, and used the sun die cut from Verve's Partly Cloudy set. I also stamped some "rays" with a sentiment from the coordinating Partly Cloudy stamp set and added some glittery gems going everywhere.

I topped the whole design off with Winnie and Walter's In a Word: Love die cut and stamped a sentiment from STAMPlorations Fond Expressions 2 stamp set. 


I'm also playing along with:
Shopping Our Stash - 4 elements (I'm doing Fiiiiiiiiiiire baby, with all my hot heat)\
Crafty Friends Challenge - Summertime

A Beau-Tea-Full Mixed Media Card - Card Concept Guestie

There's nothing better than when you look at an inspiration image for a challenge and instantly know exactly what to do .

That's what happened to me when my peepers beheld this stunner for the latest Card Concept challenge:

I'm guest designing with the Card Concept team for the month of May and it has been SO much fun!! When you are surrounded by talented people - like the design team of Card Concept - you can't help but to be inspired and put your best foot forward! 

For this card, I started by gessoing a piece of heavy weight cardstock and then I scribbled on some Distress Crayons:

OOoooo messy! 

As soon as I saw the scribbles, I knew I'd created a masterpiece and so I put my supplies away. 

Just kidding! haha

In reality, I used my finger to smear the Distress Crayon and create a smoother look. 

You heard me mention earlier that I gessoed the page before I applied the Distress Crayon. 

Why? 

I'm glad you asked!

Check out the difference between these two backgrounds. The one on the left has been gessoed and the one on the right just plain paper. You can see that the Distress Crayons don't look very smooth on the right side and it's picking up the texture of the cardstock.

So if you want a smooth, more blendable version of Distress Crayons, make sure to slap some gesso on the page first. 

And now, back to the card: 

Over the Distress Crayon background, I used some gold texture paste through a stencil. Next, I stamped the teacup from STAMPlorations Always Tea Time set and paired it with a sentiment from my Literary Caffeine-ations set.  I colored the cup in with Spectrum Noir Markers. 

This little shabby chic mixed media number made me oh-so-happy so I was DONE! 

Thanks for popping by my blog to check out my card. 

I'd love to see you play along at the Card Concept this month!

Go check out what the rest of the talented Design Team made HERE.