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?

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Guess 

now 

and

see

how 

many

you

guess

correctly....

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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.

Happy 4th Everyone!!

Happy Independence Day America!!!

Hope you all have a lovely day spent with family and friends enjoying this great day. All of us here in the United States are very lucky to be where we are. Have a fun and safe holiday celebrating the birth of our great country!

Colored using: Imagine Memento Dual Tip Markers

Colored using: Pan Pastels, Prismacolor Colored Pencils

Embossed Background - Sizzix 

White Embossing Powder (Imagine); Brushos Colour Crystals

Background: Memento Dye Inks; Embossing Black & White (Imagine); 

irRESISTible Texture Spray (Imagine)

Background - Brusho Colour Crystals
Stamped Images Colored using Stabilo Pastel Pencils

JFF Stamps: 

America the Beautiful

American Eagle

PAT-Fireworks Burst

PAT-Home of the Brave

Patriotic Block

Patriotic Ribbon

PAT-Statue of Liberty

Club Scrap Cherry Blossoms Blog Hop

Welcome to April's Club Scrap Blog Hop featuring the Cherry Blossoms kit!  A lovely kit filled with the beauty of spring's cherry blossoms with a touch of the orient.

I was so excited when I saw the colors for this kit. The dark pink ribbon was the exact color of the bridesmaid dresses and pink is Morgan's favorite color.  I knew it would be perfect for all of these lovely pics.

I made the cherry blossoms by using a set of dies from Sizzix that was originally intended to make pansies! A bit of rearranging, a dash of PanPastels for color and I think they are a pretty convincing cherry blossoms.

I found a pretty pearl brad from Queen and Co that was perfect for attaching the blank tags (intended for a bit of journaling).  I scattered a few loose petals around the page and then glued them down where they landed.

I'm so happy with how it turned out.

I have also been making a clipboard collage each month (because they are so darn fun!). Here is the one I made this month...

I decided pearls would be that extra little something on this month's collage. I think they finished it off nicely.

Oh, and I did add a bit of glitter here and there too...

I have been having so much fun with these, I don't know what I'll do when I run out of those fun collage sheets.

Your next stop on the hop is...

Julie - Cape Cod Scrapper

and if you get lost along the way

you can find the complete list here...

Club Scrap Cherry Blossoms Blog Hop

Club Scrap Supplies:

Cherry Blossoms - Paper, Ribbon, Tags, Cut-Aparts, Sequins

Other:

Sizzix Pansy Dies

Queen & Co Pearl Brad

PanPastels

Springtime Welcome Sign - Paper Flowers Galore!

Today I wanted to share a bit about how I made the Springtime Welcome sign I shared with you yesterday.  

As I mentioned at the time just about everything you see started out as just paper or chipboard.  Now I'll tell you how I did it...

I started off by die-cutting LOTS of petals out of smooth white Club Scrap cardstock...lots and lots and lots.   I did cut a few yellow bases from some scraps I had left over from another project...they won't be seen in the finished flower so it's o.k. they are a different color.

I used several different dies to make the flowers - the Dahlia was made using a combination of petals from the Sunflower (5 bottom layers) and Tiny Daisy (2 center layers + layer wrapped around a bead) dies.  In addition to these dies I used a few Spellbinder flower dies as well.  Some of these flowers were cut out of colored Club Scrap cardstock - deep pink, yellow and a few different greens for the leaves and other foliage.

After all of the petals were cut I colored each petal (or leaf) with PanPastels.  The Dahlia was colored with a couple different shades of purple for the outer petals, as the layers of petals got closer to the center I started using darker and darker shades.  Some of the inner tiny petals were colored on both sides because their curl was deep enough that you could see both sides.  

Here is how each layer was assembled - each layer has 8 petals.  There are 3 layers or the largest petal, 2 layers of the medium size petal and 7 layers of the really tiny petal.  I also used a plastic pony bead for the very center of the dahlia.  There were a couple layers of beads which were colored on the back side with the PanPastels; shaped & curled very tightly, then glued directly to the bead.

I repeated these steps for the rest of the flowers.  I also applied PanPastels and shaped each of the leaves and bits of foliage as well. Most of the flowers have pips, beads or micro beads glued in their centers.  Assembling the flowers and all of the foliage took most of a weekend.

Next I started on the sign it's self...I pulled out a piece of book board (really thick chipboard) that was left over from another project....  It was already the basic size and shape I needed so that was a plus!

I wanted the board to resemble a wood sign so I pulled out my Exacto knife and started carving the edges and spaces between the "boards".

The edges and spaces were painted with Lamp Black paint.

A thick layer of Deco Art Crackle Paste was applied to the boards.  Remember - thicker layers produce larger cracks once cured.  I also drew a few lines through the medium to mimic the striations you might find on weathered wood boards.

Here are a couple photos of the crackle medium as it dries...

I left it to dry over night....

The next morning the Crackle Paste had completely dried and I was left with lovely crackle finish.  I applied a coat of Renaissance Brown Elegant Finish Metallic Glaze.  I know what you're thinkin' - that sounds pretty fussy for an old wood board.  Nope, this stuff is great!  It's got a rich shimmer chocolate look and once it's applied over the white crackle paste it creates a beautiful finish.  

Since it's a glaze (which is a bit thinner and translucent) and not an acrylic paint the crackle finish is very visible once dry.

I then stamped "welcome" with some foam stamps and more black acrylic paint.

I determined where I wanted everything to go and started gluing it down.  I filled in the design with a few tiny Prima flowers here and there and then tied on the ribbon for hanging.

So there you go...

Spring Welcome sign ready to greet our visitors!

Hope you enjoyed the process.

Supplies:

ClubScrap.com - Cardstock, Book Board, Ribbon

DecoArt - Crackle Paste, Americana Lamp Black Paint, Elegant Finish Metallic Glaze - Renaissance Brown

Spellbinders - Flower & Leaf Dies

Sizzix - Flower Dies

PanPastels

Glue, Micro Beads, Beads, Pips, Foam Tape, Letter Stamps

Birds, Feathers and More!

Birds, Feathers and more!  

You still have time to join in the fun over at 

JFF Stamps April Challenge - Birds, Birdhouses and Feathers!  

I have a few cards to inspire you...

My first little bird card was stamped then colored using Memento Dye Inks and a Sponge Dauber.  I then pounced a bit of ink onto my craft mat, flicked it with water and flicked it onto a piece of white watercolor paper that I had stamped a couple leaves onto.  The bird was then trimmed and mount over a piece of fancy fiber.

For this card I went with pastels.

And finally my feather was stamped & embossed with white EP.  I placed a circle template over the card and filled it in with PanPastels.  I stamped the sentiment and added a bit of glitter here and there over the feather for a bit of shimmer.

Hope you have a lovely day friends!

Brand New Challenge - Just For Fun Rubber Stamps!

YES!!  Just For Fun Rubber Stamps blog is now hosting a new monthly challenge!  These are going to be fun easy challenges to you stamping.  We're going to be switching things up each month with a different type of challenge - it could be an inspiration word or phrase, a card sketch, a photo/color inspiration, etc.  The best part - there will be a prize each month!!

To kick things off we're pushing the seasons a bit because we're tired of winter so the 

March JFF Challenge 

Inspiration Word is:

And here are a couple cards I made for the challenge....

JFF Stamps: Large Loop Petal Daisy; Small Loop Daisy;  

String Art Daisy; Happy Spring sentiment

This card was made using the washi tape/masking tape technique by inking and stamping between two pieces of torn tape.  Love this technique!  The background colors are PanPastels that I then stamped a trio of different flowers over the strip of color using Memento Dye Inks.  I stamped the sentiment then finished off the card with a few sequins for a bit of sparkle.

JFF Stamps: Crocus

I love how simple this card is because it really lets the stamped & watercolor image shine.  Stamped with Memento Ink then water colored using my Koi watercolors.

Be sure to check out the challenge:

March JFF Challenge

for other inspiring Spring projects from the rest of the team and to enter your Spring inspired project to win a GC to JFF Rubber Stamps!

This challenge will run from March 1 - March 31st 

so you have plenty of time to enter.

Framed Dies - One Cut, Two Cards or more!

I am so excited...this week my frame dies from MFT arrived!  I have been wanting these for quite some time but they are expensive.  I've not felt I could purchase them until I rec'd an e-mail that MFT was having a bundle sale!  Well, I jumped right on it and now I have a couple of fun cards I made using just a single cut!

Here are the 2 cards I made....

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This Thanksgiving card was made using the larger frames that are meant to be used from the dies.  The sentiment (ClubScrap.com) and outside edge of the card were embossed with Gold ep by IMAGINE Crafts.  

This card was created with the "waste" between the frames I cut....meant to be discarded but why when you can create such a fun card with them!   The background was stamped with VersaMark ink then dusted with Rich Gold PanPastel.  The sentiment was stamped with Elderberry Memento Ink.

And here's how I did it.  I carefully taped the dies down one by one to my cardstock - starting with the largest die I then positioned the middle sided die so it was almost exactly in the center of the first.  I then positioned and taped the smallest die.  Once cut you're left with so many fun die-cuts to use on a variety of cards.  I didn't think about it at the time but you could even trim your original piece of cardstock so it could be used over a card as well.  So many possibilities with little to no waste!  Gotta love it.

Supplies:

MFT - Frame Dies

ClubScrap.com - Papers, Stamps, Fiber

Sizzix - Leaf Die

PanPastels
IMAGINE Crafts featuring Tsukineko - VersaMark ink; Gold Embossing Powder; Memento Ink - Elderberry 

Tea and Arts Pocket Letter

Well this weekend I was playing around with pocket letters.  Today I wanted to share one that I finished up this morning...

I'm calling it Tea and Arts (you'll see why) and it was made with a certain person in mind.  I am hoping that she enjoys it - I guess we'll see.  What do you all think.....

Here is the front with all of the cards in each pocket...

I wanted to coordinate the backs of each card for a nice finished look...

(club scrap sentiment stamp)

Paper pieced

And here are all of the cards.....

(Club Scrap stamp)

Watercolor & Markers

(Stamps - JFF Rubber Stamps)

Memento Dye Ink Watercolor & Markers

(Club Scrap Stamps)

Watercolored, Marker on the teapot, Stickles Glitter Glue for sugar.

(Unity Stamps)

Memento Stamped images over Gelli Plate Print

(Deep Red Stamps)

Stamped & Watercolored with Memento Dye Inks

(Stampendous Stamp)

Watercolored

(Crafty Individuals Stamp)

Watercolored

(Stampendous sentiment stamp)

Pan Pastel free-hand heart & background.

I also wanted to talk about how I filled the pockets.  I've been reading lots about these and it seems that many people have had issues with keeping their goodies tucked in behind the cards.  Seems as though most people ended up having to use washi tape to hold the pockets closed in order to keep everything in place.

I tested it and yes goodies do slide out very easily once you fold the page up so I decided to do something a bit different.  I pulled out some small glassine envelopes and tucked my goodies into the envelope, fold it over and tucked it behind each card.  PROBLEM SOLVED!!!  My goodies stayed in place, no washi tape needed and you can still see what's behind each card.

So there you go...Tea & Arts Pocket Letter...

now I just have to wait to hear how it goes over!