Tag! It's your Birthday!!

Celebration is good for the soul.  This Unity image Hannah Girl is up for ANY celebration! Beautiful colored, but gorgeous when simply stamped too 💙

Printed on white cardstock with random "swipes" of color made right from the ink pads, this bright, no color image was quick and easy!!  I die cut the top and used a ruffled circle die from Kat Scrappiness to make the reinforcement label and colored it with soft accents in the same inks.


Washi down 1 side accented with clear gems altered with Sharpie to add a little color!  I then decided to see how well my small blending brush could be used for some soft coloring in!

News Flash!  I LOVE THEM!!

 
& within minutes I have something special for someone's special day!! PS Happy Birthday Elvaree!!

Pop on over to Simon Says Monday Challenges to see a wide selection of tags & maybe enter your own in their "Tag It" Challenge this week!

You Are Amazing!

Mother's Day is a bitter-sweet time for me...  Although I am a Mom & I love being a Mom, my sweet Momma passed away some 12 long years ago.  Of course I would love to make her Mother's Day cards every year, but since her passing I have intentionally steered clear of any stamps or card making that reminded me of her absence.  

This year Unity Stamp Company has a little "Mini Challenge" going for Mother's Day cards.

~ I decided to celebrate 2 of the best Moms I know -- my sisters!  



I had to be a little creative with the wording so it wouldn't sound like they are my Mom, and still be able to put "Happy Mother's Day" inside!  (This flabbergasted my 17 year old son!!!)  But I am so pleased with what I came up with!  

after inking, mask parts you don't want to 
stamp with tape. Be sure to remove the tape before
reinking & reapplying  if you're doing multiples.

I got so excited stamping that I ran out of time to make them all into cards....

WARNING!! THIS STAMP TECHNIQUE CAN MAKE YOUR DAY  VANISH IN A FLASH!  

I got super caught up in the crazy amount of color combinations and 2 & 3rd generation stamping that can be done with this technique!  I wanted to try it with dozens of my stamps!!  Goodness! Even when it didn't turn out - - - IT TURNED OUT!!!

A super simple technique:  spritz  Derwent Inktense blocks with a little water and "randomly" rub them over rubber stamps.  When you have all the colors on that you want, spritz them again with water (sometimes Heavy & sometimes lightly) & stamp.  The color bleed is mesmerizing!!

I also highly recommend this set of circle dies from Kat Scrappiness!  Swoon!!  I want to use them in every project!!  I'm trying to think of projects just to get to use them, they're SO pretty!!  #KatScrappiness !!

Water Color Landscapes

I would never claim to be a watercolor artist, but I am in love with water coloring!  It is so "free-form" and very forgiving!  

 

These landscapes were made with Stampin' Up! inks applied to  acrylic blocks, adding droplets of water and then painting them onto watercolor paper.  I experimented with using a couple varieties of color.

 

I found that it didn't matter if the colors "went" together because once they merged and mingled the effect always turned out harmonious.  A good thing because I have a very limited supply of bottled inks!

The one thing I have found to be a big problem for me is covering any portion of the water coloring!!!  I fall in love with the nuances of color and swirl, so I try to pick minimal subjects and sentiments to put over it. I do find though that it always enhances the background, so it's worth the struggle!!

Layering is fun also because SO MANY colors go with the tons of colors that wind up present in the painting!  So enjoy a day of making backgrounds with any water friendly medium and some watercolor paper.  You're likely to wind up with papers for book and journal covers, greeting cards, doll house siding(!!!) and more!!!

Beautiful Spring wishes to you!

Easter Water Color

Spring puts me in the mind to use lots of fresh colors!!

Watercolor is a forgiving medium, and theriputic to play with when you're in the mood to just swirl colors. It is wonderfully relaxing to put blobs of color on the wet paper and let it pool and run. I like to make several backgrounds at once, partly because it's addicting to mess with color combinations, & partly so that several are ready to go when inspiration hits!

For this one, after the paper dried I ran it through a viney embossing folder.  Look at that yummy texture!!!

I  fell in love with every random swirl of color and decided not to trim it!  Instead I used one of my favorite alphabet stamp sets to spell Easter, accenting the daisies with Morning Dew Nuvo Crystal Drops.

To make the colors pop more I used bright white strips of lacy die cuts from Kaisercraft & some thin scraps of Lawn Fawn plaid paper.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope your Easter is beautiful and blessed.

Layers Easter Card

Easter wishes to you!! a beautifully easy card made with the stacking die system from Birchpress called Avalon.  The lowest layer was covered with adhesive and the other 2 were stacked on top.  Then glitter was applied to the openings and stuck only to the bottom layer. I chose shades of pink and coral and then put the whole thing over baby blue!!  Oh what fun it is to cut dozens of layers in different colors and try out different combinations!!  Any combination of 1, 2 or 3 layers works beautifully too!! Just sayin' !! 

After stamping the daisy letters  in different colors I covered each one in Smooch "Illuminate" for a little added shimmer.

Wishes is stamped on a little vellum banner & attached to the side.

God Bless your Easter Season.

"Thanks be to God for His Indescribable Gift!"

                2nd Corinthians 9:15

Again I Say Rejoice!

I am reorganizing my craft supplies and I am learning that I have quite a stash of scraps.  I'm one of those people who saves a lot of scraps because I can see that most of those bits can accommodate so very many of my star, snowflake or other dies!! They are also great for stamping small images to fussy cut, and so with the price of paper - I hoard a lot of pieces.  

But that's not all!!  I often die cut several pieces in one color or several colors in one shape be sure what I like best before I finish a project, so I have lots and lots of shapes and fussy cuts too!! (did I say lots?  There are LOTS!!)  

So I spent several afternoons with many of them - the more "Spring" looking colors - spread across the table and assembling pieces for cards.  This is one of my favorites to come out of that pile!  

The butterflies from Memory Box are cut from a water colored paper scrap, and even the beautiful white on white background was left from a different project where it wasn't used!!

I finished it off with another scallop die from Waffle Flower and some washi on the back.  

The Wonderful sentiment is from an unknown to me source. I pulled it off of its wood block and cling mounted it to make it easier to stamp in steps!

Kinda like my card, Christ's death on the cross took what was destined for the garbage heap and made it all new again!   He sees the beautiful potential inside of us and freely offered himself as a perfect sacrifice to settle the debt our inequities stack against us.  All you have to do is accept the gift! 

 So especially during this Easter season, as we celebrate Christ's ultimate victory over the grave, I wish you many blessings, peace, love, family & most of all salvation!