Evil Eye...Spooky Skyline Challenge

Today I have another fun Spooky Skyline for the September Sparkle Blend challenge from Doodles Paper Playground!

Isn't this a fun card? Normally I don't use a lot of purple but I was so inspired by the brand new limited edition sequins mix - Monster Mash that I just had to give it a go!

How I made the background....

I started off by squirting my Fireworks! spray onto a piece of plastic wrap and pouncing it all over a white cardstock panel. I did this with Bahama Blue, Lilac Posies and Lilac Walnut Ink.

Then to add the spook factor I made a "frame" using Marabu Art Crayons and Gelatos blending with my finger as I went.

Then I used a couple dies from Gina Marie Designs to create the front frame of the shaker. The witch cut from black cardstock and the spooky pumpkin frame was cut from a piece of purple cardstock that I had enhanced with more Marabu Art Crayons.

Once I made the shaker and filled it with the Monster Mash sequins blend I framed the card with Grape Fairy Hugs Powder glitter.

Don't you just love that creepy green eyeball?

It really pops on that purple background.

Sparkle Blends Spooky Skyline Challenge

 Supplies:

Doodles Paper Playground Sparkle Blends - Monster Mash

Fairy Hugs Powder - Grape

Catchin' Up...A little of this, a little of that

Things have been crazy here what with our business, the holidays and everything else going on.

I have fallen behind on sharing some cards I have made in the last few weeks so I'm going to try to get caught up here.

My first card is one I made for the Day of the Dead challenge.

I love this skull image...it's very festive don't you think - LOL!!

The background is a watercolor bit with a bit of glitter and Rinea Foiled Papers thrown in for a pop of color.

I REALLY like this card - it's a bit of Rinea Foiled Paper that I sent through one of WRMK's 3-D embossing folders. It looks and FEELS amazing IRL. I think it's such a fun contrast to the steampunkish image of the flying guy don't you think?

My final card for today is a very special one....

I call it Man's Best Friend. It's made using one of the newest stamps from Lost Coast Designs. I love all the doggies. It was colored using Marabu Art Crayons, a bit of Rinea Foiled Paper and some Sparkle Blends sequins.

APC Challenge Week #2 - Card 2

Woo hoo...got home early and got to finish my second card!  I'm so excited about this one.  If you recall I shared the first card yesterday....

and here is how I left the second card....

Claudine's card held the sentiment "Expand your wings, learn new things and fly".  To me that intimated a journey so I went that route.  Her card also had a fairy on it but I don't have any fairy stamps that are really my style so I improvised!  I think the figure I used paired nicely with the sentiment I chose to use....

I started off by stamping an interesting texture stamp on the background with Peanut Brittle Luxe ink.  The nice thing about this ink is that it stays wet long enough that I was able to dab on copper & gold PanPastels for a beautiful shimmer effect.  I added some "travel" themed washi tape and a nifty compass die-cut from Susana's Custom Art & Card Design.  

Next I stamped Alice on white cardstock, colored with spectrum noir colored pencils and fussy cut her.

I added the pointing finger washi tape, the sentiment and stamped a compass in the corner.  The sentiment says, "Where ever you go.... Go with all your heart."

Stamps - Background Texture - Just For Fun Rubber Stamps; 

Alice & Compass - Deep Red Stamps

Sentiment Font  - Ornatique

and here they are both together....

I had lots of fun making these...I can't wait to see what is to come!

Altered Playing Card Challenge - Week #2

Hi all... Last week I mentioned that I had decided to join in a fun challenge - Altered Playing Card Challenge.  So the first week was to choose your deck of playing cards and cover them with a layer of gesso.  Well, you know me - I like to do my own thing so I pulled together a set of more unusual cards....

Yes, I went to my stash and pulled out bingo cards, flash cards, coasters and even a few giant playing cards.  I'm going to have a mega stack of art cards when I'm finished!  Now about the gesso'ing - I didn't do that either.   I personally like the foundation to show through on some cards more than others which is why I left them bare. Since I don't know what the supplies/techniques will be I decided to leave them as is and decide at the time if I want to add gesso or not.   This week since the assignment was to use spray ink I did apply gesso - more on the coaster, less on the bingo card.

For the coaster I decided to add some texture by "Cooking the Gesso".... I began heating the gesso when it was about 60% dry.  Why then?  The gesso was dry enough to form a skin over the entire piece - thinner areas completely dry while the thicker peaks were still very wet inside.  Now what do I mean by cooking it...just that, heating the gesso until it started to boil and bubble and form lots of great texture!  

You can see some of that fun texture in this photo....

Now time for Week #2 - as I mentioned above Claudine used spray ink so I pulled a few out.  Bubble Gum Pink and Squeezed Orange for my first card...

And London Blue & Fresh Lime for my second...

Here are what both of my cards look like at this point.

I wanted my cards to be similar but not exact so I kept the butterfly theme, stamped my black flowers instead of using a die-cut and found a sentiment that I liked and here's how it turned out!

Stamp: Just For Fun Rubber Stamps

Fonts - "just don't fly" is Modern No.20; Soar is Ornatique

Die-cuts - no idea - sorry!

I got home from work later than planned so I didn't have time to start on the second card so I'll have to share that one tomorrow...once it's finished that is.

Hope to see you then...

Easter Tin Can Project - Finished!!

LOL...so many people e-mailed about my tease :)  I hadn't done that in a long time but it was fun!  I hope you're all ready to see the finished project...

I added some mesh lace around the top to cover the lip of the can since it was so sharp...I'd hate for anyone to get cut while digging for jelly beans!  At the time I took the photos I didn't have the handle attached.  I was waiting for some beads to dry before threading them on the wire & attaching it.  I'm thinkin' I'm having a chemical reaction because they don't seem to be drying like they should...oh well...I may have to go to a plan B for the handles.

Anyway, here you go....  (the pink really isn't as neon as it looks in the pics).

The front...

The rub-ons, pattern Easter paper n stickers and Dew Drops are from Robin's Nest; Collage Image, tags are Altered Pages, Vintage Seam Binding and lace were from my own collection.

I added bees & butterflies around the sides.

Each of the flowers has a Dew Drop at it's center.

And just another shot of that cute little bunny!

I love this image ~ reminds me of a 50's Easter Card.

So, there you go...

A fun "green" Easter container you can make ahead of time for all your "peeps"!

Have a wonderful day!!

Easter Tin Can

Hey All...

Hope you're all staying warm and having a great day...  I have the beginnings of a project for you ~ a recycled tin can turned into a bit of Easter goodness!

I started off by washing the can thoroughly...a word of caution though...don't stick your hand down in it and swish the dish rag around.  I did and cut my hand ~ of course!  Anyway, after you get the bleeding stopped, dry the inside and out really well.

If desired, punch a couple of holes in the can so you can add a handle at some point.

Next, cover the outside of the can with one or more coats of gesso... I ended up with 3 ~ you could add more or less depending on the look you're going for.

Squirt on a couple colors of inky mist...I'm using Dylusions but you can use what you have.

I dried each layer between coats of color then when it was all dry I sanded away bits here and there for a well-loved look.

I added some fun glittery paper around the center then added a border (sticker) strip of flowers.

I made a little collage tag for the front using all sorts of Easter-y colors, images and papers.  I dyed the ribbon with the same inks I used on the can, added a few dew drops, a bee sticker and...

Well, that's all I'm going to show you for now :)  tee hee hee...you'll have to wait to see the finished can till later!

Gelatos & Dylusions St. Patty's Day Tag!

Today is Two for Tuesday at Altered Pages Artsociates blog and this month all of the designers are playing with Gelatos,  Dylusion Inks or both paired with some of the beautiful collage images from Altered Pages!  I decided to play with all of them just because they are so much fun.

Since St. Patrick's Day is about 3 weeks away I thought it would be fun to make a tag to celebrate this fun holiday!  

Now you know I how I hate to waste anything...well the other day I was using gesso to create texture on the black cardstock, when I lifted the paper off my craft mat there were two strips of gesso on either side.   I didn't want to just wipe it away so I pressed a few tags into the left-over gesso to create some interesting textures.   Today I pulled one of those tags out and I'm using it as the base for my St. Patty's day tag.

I started off by spritzing the entire tag with Fresh Lime Dylusions Ink Spray.  This is one of my favorite colors...I just love the bright intense green!

After the ink was dry I used my Micron pen to trace several shamrocks over the entire tag.  (the two sparklie shamrocks were my patterns.)  I then proceeded to scratch the shamrock tracings up a bit to give them a sketchy look....yes I know this is cheating but hey, it works.

Next I scribbled several shades of green Gelatos on my non-stick craft mat.

which I picked up with my Niji Waterbrush to color each of the shamrocks.

Here's what the tag looks like so far....  Don't you love how the gesso is shining through the Dylusions & Gelatos!  That stuff is great :)

I added a bit of a shadow to the shamrocks and added a line frame around the outside of the tag.

I then fussy cut this cute little couple from the "St. Pat's Day" collage sheet AP-416 and adhered it to the tag with double stick foam tape.  I also added a few themed postcards from the collage sheet "Erin Go Bragh" AP-2120 that I printed off at 40% their original size and added them to the tag as well tucked behind a couple of the shamrocks.  A bit of dyed seam binding finished it off.

And here's the finished tag....

 Here are a couple looks at the gesso texture in among the shamrocks...

Altered Pages Supplies:

Altered Pages Collage Sheets:  Erin Go Bragh AP2120, St. Pat's Day AP 416

Domestic Postcard Tags

Dylusions Spray Ink

Gelatos

Micron Pen

Niji Waterbrush

 White Gesso

Other Supplies:

Seam Binding

Be sure to check out the other cool creations the rest of the Altered Pages Design Team has created.