Kindred Spirits

 Playing with the Gothic image of the month at Gecko Galz...

A gothic take on Little Red Riding Hood...I love it!

A bit of gesso, watercolors, acrylic paint, vintage ephemera, washi tape, some stamping, stencils, Creative Medium and more!

Gecko Galz Monthly Gothic Challenge 0224

Thanks a Pumpkin Spice Latte

Welcome to the 2021 Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop :)

Hello Friends!!

Here's a fun card made using shaker bits from Sparkle Blends and Digital stamps from Gracielle.  I thought it was perfect for Thanksgiving next week :)

 The pumpkin is from the Gracielle stamp set - Faith Family Fall set and the cup is from the Bubble Tea set.

I filled the shaker using the awesome sequins mix from Sparkle Blends called PSL Season. I LOVE the little "bubbles" and the fimo Pumpkin Spice Latte cups in the mix...really makes it special.

 

Welcome Spring Robin's Egg Nest

Hello Friends...I wanted to share a card I made recently using Rinea foiled papers and dies from Gina Marie Designs and Spellbinders.

I instantly fell in love with the birds nest die from Gina Marie and knew it would make a perfect card for Spring. It was cut from Mocha, Copper and Turquoise foiled papers. I don't know if you can see it or not but I added speckles to the eggs by flicking Bronze, Pearl and Gold Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor paints onto the Turquoise/Gold Glossy foiled paper prior to cutting. I left it to dry for a couple hours naturally so I didn't mess up the perfect little dots of color. 

The tree branch is hand cut - I just had a basic idea in mind and cut away.  Really easy.

Hope you have a lovely day!

Supplies:

Rinea - Gold/Gold Glossy, Mocha/Gold Glossy, Emerald/Emerald Starstruck, Copper/Gold Glossy, Mocha/Mocha Starstruck, Turquoise/Gold Glossy

Spellbinders - Frame

Gina Marie Designs - Birds Nest & Eggs

Sizzix - Leaves

Growing In Unity Blog Hop!!

Welcome to the Growing in Unity Blog Hop!

So excited to be part of this fun group featuring the amazing stamps from Unity Stamp Co!

On with the fun....

Since it is October and Halloween is right around the corner I thought it would be fun to share a couple cards made using some of my most loved Halloween stamps from Unity.

Yes, the gang's all here! Tierra Jackson is one of my most favorite Unity artists, I love her take on Halloween. Aren't they just the coolest? I absolutely love them and have fun creating with each one. 

Today I thought the spiders should be purple, the Mummy is all dressed in his best wrap, Frank and his lady love are dolled up for the party and of course the Count is spiffed up in his natty red suit (to hide any dribbles of course).

To create this card I stamped and masked each character before stamping the next (starting with Frank in the center).  

I then spent some time and colored each using a variety of colored pencils and finishing up the background with watercolor.

Unity Stamps: Spider, Mummy, Frank, Bride of Frank, and Count

I was having so much fun I decided to make a second card featuring Spider.

To create this card I stamped Entanglement on a piece of white cardstock using VersaMark ink.

I then embossed with white MBossing powder.

I used Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors to add color.

Spider was also stamped with VersaMark but then embossed with black MBossing powder.

He too was colored using watercolors. 

Once dry he was fussy cut and added to the card along with the sentiment and Limited Edition sequins from Sparkle Blends.

Unity Stamps: Spider, Entanglement (border backgrounds)

I hope you've enjoyed these Halloween offerings...be sure to check out the rest of the lovely creations from the rest of these Growing in Unity friends....

1. Roni You are here :)

2.Helen 

3. Allison 

4. Jeanie 

Sparkle Blends June Blog Hop

Its time for the June Sparkle Blends Release Inspiration Hop! Together with the rest of the Design Team, I will be showcasing some of the 7 new Sparkle Blends from this month’s release! We’ve got everything from 80’s Neon to a glow in the dark alien blend in this release, so if you haven’t see them yet, make sure you hop over to the Sparkle Blends Shop and check out Broken Glass, Extraterrestrial, I Love the 80’s, Pawsome Pals, She Sells Seashells, Stars & Stripes and You’re Pand-tastic! If you act quickly, there even a couple of discounted release bundles left for order!

Want a chance to win one of 3 fantastic prize packs, each valued at approximately $15.00 each? Make sure you leave comments as you hop & you’ll earn one entry for each blog you comment on! See the Doodles Paper Playground Hop Post for giveaway prizes and entry details. Comments must be posted no later than 11:59pm EST on Sunday, June 28th, 2020 to be eligible to win. Open to US residents only who are at least 18 years old. Winners will be drawn Monday, June 29th & posted on the Doodles Paper Playground blog, Facebook page and in the Sparkle Blends Fan Club on FB.

Who loves Blog Candy?? We’ve got some in the form of a Discount Code worth 15% off your total order in the shop--some exclusions apply!

Use Coupon Code: JUNE15OFF (Excludes June Release Bundle. Can not be combined with other coupons or offers. Can not be applied to previous Purchases. Valid June 26th through June 30th, 2020)

My first card was made using the Stars & Stripes blend. I LOVE this set - it is perfect for all sorts of cards but with the 4th of July coming quickly I wanted to go all patriotic. I started off by creating a red, white and blue mat using Rinea Foiled Papers in Ruby/Ruby Starstruck, Arctic/Arctic Starstruck and Sapphire/Sapphire Starstruck. I die-cut a frame from white cardstock and created a see through shaker (acetate both on the front and back of the shaker) filled with the sequins. I affixed the R/W/B hearts to the shaker frame. 

To finish off the card I applied Pinecone VersaFine Clair ink to the edges of the USA country/flag from the Creative Embellishments set - USA Love to give the card a vintage feel.

For a change of pace...we're heading to the outer reaches with the Sparkle Blends - Extraterrestrial!!

OMGOSH!! This set is so cool - not only does it have really fun printed and plain sequins it also has tiny little Fimo alien heads AND glow in the dark stars and moons!!!! What fun huh? Absolutely LOVE this set.

So what else could I do but make a fun little spaceship beaming up this fun sequins mix.  I started off by printing the darling little alien spaceship by Graphic Adventure twice. I used one as the shaker top which I colored using Chameleon alcohol markers. I carefully cut out the center of the spaceship ray of light to create the window for the shaker.  

Next I colored the ray of light on the second copy. I added foam tape, acetate and the sequins blend to the shaker and covered it with the first image. Shaker done!  I used a black card base which I flicked with Gold, Silver and Green metallic Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor paints to make it look like outer space.  Finally I affixed the shaker to the card and it's ready to soar off to a galaxy far far away...or at least to a friend across the country - LOL!! 

Hope you've enjoyed these cards and stop back again sometime...

Have a great day!

Donkey of Another Color

Hello all...I hope you're doing well, staying safe and finding some time to create.  

Recently I decided it was time to stop fretting - because I'm a Worry Wart - thank you Mom - that's easy for me to do. I say try because it's going to be a constant battle - with every new report it gets a little harder.  So here's what I'm doing. First thing I started to keep a journal of sorts. When things get too overwhelming I just pull it out and start writing. I write statistics, I cuss about things I've seen/read that make me mad, I write down my fears, etc. These are things I don't want to share with a live person because a) don't want them worrying about what I'm worrying about b) i know some of what I write down is silly, ridiculous, etc. c) i don't want to be someone's negative nelly...already too much of that in the world anyway.  This is not something I ever expect anyone else to read...actually when this is all over I may just throw it away. So, if you're fretting about anything just pull out a notebook and write it down. It might help you a bit just as it has me.

I also decided that it was time to start inking up some stamps that I have in my stash that I haven't used yet. Today I wanted to share one of these first time inking's....

I got this darling stamp set made by Pink Ink Designs (a UK company) that is called Cool Mule. Looks like a donkey to me so that's what I'm going with since I love donkeys.

I've used a different medium to color each image...anyone care to guess what they are?

***

***

***

Guess 

now 

and

see

how 

many

you

guess

correctly....

***

***

***

Answers 

below....

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***

***

Upper Left Grey Donkey - Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors

Upper Right Blue Donkey - Lindy's Gang Magical Shakers

Lower Left Pink/Purple Donkey - Imagine VeraFine Clair Inks
(Simon Says Stamp stencil as well)

Lower Right Brown Donkey - Pan Pastels

I don't know what I'm going to do with them but they were fun to color. I wish I had a way to mat them - it would be fun to put them in a frame together for some fun wall art.

Twinkle Twinkle...

Oh my stars!!

Hello hello hello! Today I'd like to take on a trip far far away to another galaxy with my outta this world shaker tag using one of the new Sparkle Blends - Nebula. 

It's full of beautiful colors and styles of sequins and extra little bits. I love the colors - black purple and lime green with lots of holographic and printed sequins in the mix. Something far from the norm. It's even got little glow in the dark stars!!!

I used a star diecut to create windows in a black tag. I added plastic windows and double stick foam on the back of the tag and filled the little windows with this wonderful sequins mix. From there I covered a second tag with Silver/Silver Starstruck Rinea Foiled Paper and attached it to the back of the shaker.  I finished it off by adding splatters of metallic frost watercolor paint and more of the Nebula sequins.

It's a starry delight don't you think?

Supplies:

Sparkle Blends Shop - Nebula

Black Tags (2)

Spellbinders - Seth Apter Robo Star

Rinea Foiled Paper - Silver/Silver Starstruck

Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor 

Assorted Fibers

Wee Wee Wee....all the way home!

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope you're feelin' fine and enjoying the day.

Today I've got another shaker card for you using one of the new Sparkle Blend mixes from Doodles Paper Playground. This mix is called This Little Piggy.  I was thrilled when I saw this mix because I like pigs - LOL!!  As it happens I had this new darling little piggy die from Gina Marie which was perfect for this card.

Fun huh? Can you see the nifty little pig faces in the mix? Aren't they the cutest little things? Anyway I made this card by first painting a watercolor sky and grassy field using Kuretake Gansi Tambi watercolor paints.  

After the paint had dried I cut the little pig from the painted paper and I also cut the barnyard silhouette (Gina Marie) from Ebony/Gold Glossy Foiled Paper (Rinea). I assembled the shaker on the back side of the watercolor paper then affixed the barnyard on the front just below the horizon line. I printed the sentiment off my computer and added it to the bottom of the card.  This panel was then attached to a kraft card base.

He's a sweetie isn't he? 

Have a lovely day my friends - stay inky!!

Supplies:

Doodles Paper Playground - This Little Piggy

Gina Marie - Barnyard Silhouette, Pig

Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors

Watercolor Paper

Rinea - Ebony/Gold Glossy Foiled Paper

Computer Generated Sentiment

Kraft Cardstock

A Little Love...

Have you all seen the new release from Rubber Stamp Tapestry?  Oh my...you need to check it out! There are 10 new sets plus several new individual peg stamps as well. I have been playing with two of these sets - To My Valentine and Follow Your Heart and this is what I came up with...

My first card I wanted to experiment with a different type of wreath. I drew a small circle in pencil on a square of cardstock. I then stamped the larger hearts in the To My Valentine set with a combination of Memento and Versa Fine Clair inks. I made sure the bottom tip of the heart was touching the pencil line to achieve the wreath feel of it.  I then stamped the flower peg stamp inside the wreath of hearts in shades of purple. I used the sentiment from the Handmade with Love set in the center and colored the heart with a variety of colored pencils.

The pink background was created with the flowers from To My Valentine set as well as the leaf from the Follow Your Heart set. I added a scallop mat, accent strip and background mat using Violet/Gold Glossy Foiled Paper from Rinea.

LOVE...

I had SOOO much fun with this card!!

Inspired by the wreath on the first card I wanted to try to make a half wreath or a swish on this card. I knew I wanted to start off with the "LOVE" from the O So Fancy sentiment stamp set from last month's release. It's so bold and beautiful, I knew it would make the perfect centerpiece for this card.  It was stamped with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink.

To start the half wreath I started out by stamping the Full of Hearts peg stamp from the Follow Your Heart set since it was the largest stamp, from there I stamped the little flowers, leaves and finally the Double Hearts.

I wanted to highlight the pink and greens I used for the flowers and leaves so I flicked pearly green and pink watercolor paints from my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor paints over the entire panel.  This panel was mounted on a grey card base and finished it off with a few Sparkle Blends sequins from Doodles Paper Playground. 

 I'll be back tomorrow with more Valentine fun.

Till then friends, stay inky!

Lost Coast Designs - Anything Goes Challenge #67

Lost Coast Design/Carmen's Veranda

has started the year off with

Challenge #67 - Anything Goes!!

Up for a bit of fun? Well Lost Coast Designs has started the year off with an "Anything Goes" Challenge! It doesn't get much easier than that does it? If you stamp any project you're set to go!

I went with something very timely here in Indiana...a little snow bear!

He is from the Creepy Doll Collection but I think he's far too cute to be called creepy - don't you? 

My card background was a mix of Memento Inks sprayed with Frost Sheer Shimmer Spritz to mix.  A card panel was placed over the mix to create a lovely monoprint which was then stamped with both large and small snowflake stamps using VersaFine Clair Paradise, Kaliedacolor Blue Breeze and Silver Delicata inks.

The little bear was stamped on a piece of white cardstock using more of the VFC Paradise ink then water colored, topped off with a bit of black pen and glitter!  He was then fussy cut, affixed to the snowflake panel which was then added to a red card base.  The sentiment was diecut and added to the card.

I hope this inspires you to dig out your supplies and create!

If you do, be sure to enter it into the challenge for your chance to win.

Good Luck Friends!

Supplies:

Lost Coast Designs - Creepy Doll Teddy 1, 

Snowflakes - Lg, 

Snowflakes - Sm

Imagine - Memento Ink, 

Kaliedacolor - Blue Breeze, 

VersaFineClair, 

Delicata, 

Sheer Shimmer Spritz

On Point Glue

Other - Glitter

Black Pen

Kuretake Gansi Tambi Watercolor

Niji Water Brush

Sentiment Diecuts

Shady Pine Christmas Cards

Good Sunday Morning Friends!

I normally don't post on the weekends but I have so much fun stuff to share with you this month I can't fit it all into the weekdays!

So today I wanted to share some cards I made recently using the new set of Rubber Stamp Tapestry Peg Stamps - Shady Pine.  I LOVE this set even though it consists of just 2 stamps...the pine cone and evergreen sprig. I have also used stamps from one of their new clear stamp sets - Trinkets and Wishes.  Let's take a look...

All of these cards were stamped using VersaFine Clair inks then flicked with gold watercolor paint.

I used some red squiggles and gemstones to add a little zip to this card.

The sentiment is mounted on a piece of (real) wood veneer.

And you can't really tell in the photo but there are glittery accents through out the pine bough on this card.  It is so pretty IRL, especially when the light picks up both the glitter and gold flecks from the splattered paint.

Supplies:

Rubber Stamp Tapestry - Shady Pine, Trinkets & Wishes

Imagine - VersaFine Clair Inks, On Point Glue
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors

Cardstock

Carve December 2018 #8

Welcome Friends!

Day 8 of Carve December 

I made Bessie a cow bell & collar so she doesn't get lost...

I'm likin' it!

Supplies:

Imagine - VersaFine Clair Nocturne

Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors

31 Days of Halloween

Hello Friends 

Day 6 in the 31 Days of Halloween!

Today I have a creation featuring stamps from Lost Coast Designs/Carmen's Veranda.

Isn't this a perfect image for Halloween?  The Goth Raven was stamped and embossed then painted with Kuretake Gansai Tambi's purple iridescent watercolor. It has such a lovely shimmer IRL.

I did color the tongue with a Memento Marker to really pack in the color.

The background pattern papers are from Authentique's Nightfall collection.

Hope you're having a wonderfully frightful October!

Supplies:

Lost Coast Designs - Goth Raven

Imagine - VersaFine Clair - Nocturne, Black Embossing Powder, Memento Dual Tip Marker

Authentique - Pattern paper, Halloween Sticker

Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor Paint

Waterbrush

Bitty Pumpkins

Another fun pumpkin card...this one a bit more traditional than the previous card. No blue pumpkins here ;)

Another card for the Creative with Stamps Challenge - Pumpkins!

I used all sorts of peg stamps from Rubber Stamp Tapestry to create this little scene. It was stamped using a combination of VersaFine Clair and Memento inks.  I used a waterbrush filled with water and a bit of Champagne Frost All purpose ink paired with watercolors to create a lovely shimmery sky for the background.

The stamped panel was mounted on a bit of Mocha/Mocha Starstruck Foiled Paper which was then mounted on a panel of Marigold/Marigold Starstruck Foiled Paper both from Rinea.  Makes for quite the striking card don't you think?

A close up of the pumpkins...

Thanks for stoppin' by!

A Little Gnome Told Me....

August 1st, 2018!!!

Can you believe it?

I don't know where the year has gone...

It sure doesn't feel like  it should be August already.

Well I thought I'd share the first of a little series of Gnome cards I've made for you all...

A little gnome told me that

Gnome is where the Heart is.

And here are 3 little guys to prove it! 

I had so much fun making this card using stamps from the Fairy Garden set. I started off by stamping the stump from the Budding Spring UM set, from there I stamped the 3 little Gnomes and went on from there. Everything was watercolored after I was satisfied with all of the little mushrooms, critters and such.  This is such a fun stamp set I don't know if I'll be able to wait to show you the other cards I made.

Supplies:

Rubber Stamp Tapestry - Fairy Garden, Whispers from the Garden, Budding Spring 
Imagine - VersaFine Clair

Kuretake Watercolors
Watercolor Paper

Cardstock

MFT - Stitched edge rectangle die

Spread Your Wings...

Hello Friends!  I hope you're all having a lovely week so far.  Today I wanted to share a piece that I made just for the heck of it.  A bit of Art Therapy if you will.  It's been a stressful couple of weeks and I just wanted to stamp and ink and futz around so that's just what I did.  I had no real plan so this took a few days to come together but I am so happy with how it turned out.....

Stamps - Lost Coast Designs - Butterflies, Butterfly Lady, Circles Background
Rinea - Oma's Postcard (writing)
Viva Las Vegas - artys elements (can't find the names on their web-site...too many stamps to sort through)

So I am playing with my Marabu Art Crayons again...

they are just too much fun!

A bit of scribbling, blending

water spritz - but as you'll note in the photo below, this was covered.

And here's how it turned out.
I should note that this is a piece of foam core board.

Before I added color I used a piece of tape to tear away a couple of the top layers of paper just to give it some character.  You can sort of see it in this photo.

Used a pretty stencil from Club Scrap to pick up some of the color off of the board.

This is what it looked like...

Now, here is where I really started getting into it and forgot to take photos of the process.

I added several layers of stamping using VersaFine Clair Morning Mist, Golden Meadow, Summertime (orange) and Tulip Red.

I then spritzed the left 2/3rds with Frost Shimmer Spritz.  I adds the shimmer of glitter without having to explain why there is glitter everywhere ;)  LOL!!

Next I spread some Creative Medium through a stencil and let it partially dry. I then sprinkled on metal leafing flakes and used a paint brush to gently brush away the excess.  

I then applied VersaMark ink around the edges and embossed using Seth Apter's Rocky Road Baked Texture EP.  LOVE this stuff!

I stamped the butterfly fairy, water colored her plus a few extra tiny butterflies.
She and the sentiment were the affixed to the panel.

A few more looks

You can see the Shimmer Spritz near the tiny butterfly and "wings" area.

Amazing texture from the Rocky Road huh?

Hope you enjoyed the journey...

Supplies:

Imagine - Shimmer Spritz; VersaMark; VersaFine Clair - Nocturne, Morning Mist, Summertime, Tulip Red, Golden Meadow, Creative Medium
Lost Coast Designs - Butterflies, Butterfly Lady, Circles Background
Rinea - Oma's Postcard Stamp
VivaLasVegasStamps - Art circle, Dots, BubbleWrap
Marabu - Art Crayons
Seth Apter - Rocky Road Embossing Powder
Club Scrap - Flower Stencil
Kuretake Watercolors
Prima Watercolor Confections
Stencil
Double Stick Tape