A Walk Down Memory Lane

Years ago, I was just a girl who'd been taught a couple of crafting things from her grandma. I'd sit across from her at her kitchen table and watch as she made these gorgeous creations, one after the other. She taught me new techniques and I'd try to master them. My cards back then never came close to being awe-inspiring, but she'd make a fuss over them just the same.

I am so lucky to have a Grandma like that! She loaned me her stamps until I could start my own collection. One day, when I was really, really young, I went to Michael's and picked through their dollar stamps. I'd just started my first job and I had a teensy amount of money to spend. I picked out this one and a couple of others:

Can you see how terrible the condition of this poor fella is? I think at one point in time my puppy found my crafting room and chewed on this! Haha. 

Why am I sharing all of this with you? Well, there's a new challenge on the block and I'm SOOOO excited to participate in it because it brings together my love of crafting and all things vintage! It's called the Retro Rubber Challenge and participants get to bust out their older, neglected, dusty, but still GREAT stamps and put them back into the game. Their first challenge has been announced and it's all about using your oldest or first stamp you've got in your collection. 

What a neat challenge blog! I'll definitely be following along!

In order to give this gem a proper show, I began by creating a background. I squished some Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky, and Weathered Wood Distress Inks onto a craft mat and spritzed with water, then used my brayer to pick up the color and roll over a piece of white cardstock.

Once that was done, I mixed up a concoction of blue Perfect Pearls in a mini mister bottle to create my own shimmery spray. 

I heat dried my paper and stamped over it with a snowman and snowflakes using Chipped Sapphire. The snowman didn't stand out enough (I really wanted to coordinate with the sentiment) so I handpainted him using Perfect Pearls and water.

For the backdrop, I stamped snowflakes using a Perfect Medium pad and brushed over it with Perfect Pearls to create a lustrous, shimmery creation. 

This card just reinforces how versatile those little bottles of shimmer are! You can make sprays, paint, or create a backdrop with them! Love them!

Here's my gorgeous (if I don't say so myself) final creation. I am just loving the way this one turned out! You can see that I added a white backing to the image, and a bow running down the side, too. I think I might have to make a couple more for my Christmas collection. And I'm SO glad I got to take a little walk down Memory Lane.

I'd also like to enter this into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Good Ol' Days (it sure is splendid reliving some old crafting supplies)
Sentimental Sundays - Anything Goes but you HAVE to feature a sentiment on the front of your card
Pile It On - Feeling Cool (use cool colors or a wintry theme)

To learn more about these challenges, click on the images below!

Thank you for coming by to say hello! Follow my blog and leave me a comment so that I can be sure to return the favor! 

Using Distress Inks with a Rubber Brayer

The leaves are blowing off the trees here in North Dakota. Bare branches reach for the ever colder air and a brisk wind scatters the leaves from one pile to another. Winter draws closer every day and the magic of the first snowfall will soon make its entry. 

That's the feeling the card I created tonight gives me. My boss's father passed away this week and I set out to make a sympathy card for her. Sympathy cards are always the toughest for me to create because I never know what to say, what not to say. Everything seems trite. 

It seems fitting then, that my card ultimately turned out rather clean, without my usual layers or embellishments. 

To create this look, I used one of my favorite Distress Ink Techniques. Many people have heard of dipping the colors, but not everyone has learned about using a rubber brayer to create a smoother transition of colors. 

To get the colors to pop, I used a glossy photo paper. Squish your chosen colors (here is Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, and Spiced Marmalade) into a craft mat and spritz with water until the colors begin to run together. Take a brayer, and roll it through the colors, until it is inked up. Then roll the brayer onto your chosen paper. When my aunt showed me this technique, I fell in love with its effect right away!

I freehanded the hills using a gray-black Spectrum Noir Marker. Next, I used an older (2008) Stampendous stamp set called "Winter Trees" to create my deer scene and mounted the image on black cardstock. Lastly, I embossed the sentiment using a gold powder. 

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:

STAMPlorations October Challenge - Stamps and Embossing

Try it on Tuesday's Challenge -Animals

Addicted to Stamps Challenge - Anything Goes

SSS Monday Challenge - Falling in Love With... (show a technique you fell in love with)

Pile it On Challenge - Autumn 

In case you want to see a clear difference between a dipped background (I wrote a brief tutorial on dipping here) and a brayer background, I created two backgrounds. The left is dipped (and I added Fired Brick Distress Ink) and the right is a brayer background. 

Thank you for stopping by! I REALLY enjoy reading your comments so thank you to all those who leave encouragement!