Lemon Love

I love this lemon stamp.  Its so easy to emboss in white over colored cardstock, shade with some watercolor, and make it look fab!  It is from an old CTMH set which remains one of my favorites.

 

This card combines two clean and simple challenges:

Less is More: Sewing

CASology: fruit

With the close up shot, I tried to show you that the lemons were curled and then foam mounted, but I'm not sure the picture is the best.  However, it was the best of the bunch I took.  What it does show well are the three layers of embellishment:  white 1" tied with yellow 1/4" and topped with a clear button tied with embroidery floss.  Thank goodness for Liquid Glass which secures all of it!

Though I usually limit my sewing to edges, I thought it might be fun to create a border using yellow and green stitches.  My trusty sewing machine sits right next to my art table so all I have to do is swivel in my chair to access it.  Though this would have been a fun time to experiment with poking holes and doing hand stitching with thicker embroidery floss.  Hmmm, maybe I'll do that next!

Off to get my writing done.  I am only 15K words from having this novel completed.  Then, since I am a "skip to the action" kind of writer, I will go back and add detail.  If all goes according to plan, I will have this thing done in time for the writer's conference in September.  I had a brief conversation with another writer who, like me, has finaled in the Genesis Contest and is desperately trying to get her novel done before the big announcement of who won.  I do love that all of us finalists are connected on Facebook and cheering for each other.  No matter who brings home the award, we all win!

Until next time,

Becca

Retro Sketch Birthday

I was poking around last night and came across this sketch. Since the sketch itself has a bag on it, I decided to take it literally...almost.  Here's my card:

All stamps are by CTMH.  The jar and lollipop are from Little Treasures (retired) and the sentiment is from Card Chatter-Birthday. 

To add some texture and interest, I dug out my crimper.  Remember when they were all the rage...because they were the only way to custom texturize?  There are so many more options now, like the cuttlebug embossing folder.  I did mount my cuttlebug onto plain cardstock with a slightly different hue before affixing it to my card.

I used a boatload of copic markers.  I think I pulled out every color combination I have except for brown!  Since our printer isn't up and running after the move, I wasn't able to print off the sentiment I wanted which is "Birthdays Suck!"  I think I will make a second card just like this after Captain Handsome gets it connected.  (I don't know about you gals, but my husband must pace himself when it comes to connecting gadgetry...otherwise the good chaplain is tempted to let his temper get the best of him.)

Until next time,
Becca

Home Again

We have moved into our new place here in Lawton, Oklahoma.  It has taken me a full week to get through the boxes on the inside of the house.  I am "letting" my husband deal with the boxes in the garage...especially since it is 106 degrees outside for the next few days before it cools down to 100-102. 

Yeah.

So anyway, I had some fun playing in my new craft room.  After not having access to the vast majority of my stamps and supplies, I was in heaven.  I came up with some fun cards all on my own--no challenges because we still don't have internet service to the house.  (I am "borrowing" a connection from some friends while they are out of town right now.)  Here's what I made:

A long time ago, I purchased spay pens from Close To My Heart.  I pull them out occasionally and this was one of them.  I used Pansy Purple, Plum Mist, and Sorbet re-inkers, spritzed them on my paper at random, and then stamped my flowers on top.  I waited for it to dry before embossing over the top with a sentiment from Stampin' Up! using white detail powder.  The colors and stamps are shown below.

The dragonfly was colored with copics while I was experimenting with a technique that allows you to flick color starting from the edges and working inward to get a variegated color.  More on that later.  I filled the wings with liquid glass, sprinkled prisma glitter on him, and let him dry before cutting him out and mounting him using foam tape.  Because the wings are hard, the foam tape holds them at an angle after the center was adhered using more liquid glass as an adhesive (stronger than glue).

 This is what my paper looked like after I had sprayed it.  I eyeballed the part that looked like it had some nice variation, stamped the flowers and sentiment, then used a circle cutter.

Below is my second attempt at using copics to achieve the effect on the petals.  I started with a red on the ends, filled the centers with lighter red and yellow red, then accented with a little purple at the very edges.  I didn't like how the center of this turned out but adding the button solved all my problem, and now I really like it!  The flower is from CTMH Friendship Blessing; the sentiment is from Friendship Bouquet.

 This, I have to say, is one of my favorite cards of ALL TIME.

I am getting the hang of my copic markers now.  And I watched an amazing video of someone coloring where she used a cool color to make shadows over top of her warm colors.  It just made the whole thing go "shazam" so I tried it on this.  Can you see some of the blue I used on the outside over top of parts of the yellow? The stamp set is CTMH Friendship Bouquet--also my favorite set of sunflower images.  The ribbon and accessories are all CTMH, though I used a copic to color the rhinestone.  It was plain white which ends up looking more silver and was clashing with my warm colors.

Off to do some internet surfing and try to catch up on my e-mails.

Until next time,
Becca

Back in the Saddle Again

Wow!  First crafty post in a long time.  I am working with limited supplies because we are still in temporary mode, but at least I got my fingers inky today.  Today's card combines my three favorite challenges:

Mojo Monday Sketch #248
Heart2Heart: Patriotism Challenge
Operation Write Home: Midweek Anniversary Card Challenge

Yes, I am aware of how loosely this fits the Heart2Heart Red, White, and Blue requirements, but hey...I'm working with limited supplies, remember. :)  It's also a little loose on the anniversary theme for OWH, but I have a several anniversaries next month and there's just something perfect about sunflowers and August.

All supplies are CTMH except the tickets (Tim Holtz--LOVE that the numbers are not the same) and Baker's Twine (Stampin' Up!).  I have combined three different paper packets which was inspired by Jeanette Lynton's Spotlight on Art post dated July 3, 2012.  Two of the papers are current (Florentine and Victory), but the small circles come from Emporium which has been discontinued for some time now.

I turned the Mojo sketch on it's side and made my sunflower (CTMH Friendship Bouquet) the oval shape.

To achieve my colors, I tea stained the lace, sponged the paper with Juniper and Cocoa inks, used Copic BG72 to make the buttons blue, and used watercolor pencils on the sunflower.

This card could really benefit from stitching, but my sewing machine is packed away and, frankly, I don't have the patience to stitch by hand.

I wish you all a safe 4th of July.

Until next time,
Becca