CTMH Alcohol Inks

So...I'm a big fan of Tim Holtz's creative genius, even though I don't do a lot with his stuff.  Mostly because that grungy, vintage, shabby-chic look is much harder (and more expensive) to replicate than it looks.  However, once in a while I'll see something and think, "Hmm...maybe I could CTMH'ize that."  Well, I went hunting around Pinterest and found a video on making alcohol based inks from rubbing alcohol and Rit dyes.  Not wishing to invest in more stuff, I decided to see if I could do a close enough approximation using CTMH reinkers.

Here's what I came up with for Color My Heart:

I filled three different spray pens to the third hash mark from the bottom with 91% rubbing alcohol.  (I couldn't get that high percentage at a regular grocery store, but Walgreens had it on the shelf.)  I then dropped five drops of reinkers in Creme Brulee, Goldrush, and Sunset.  Without much thought to the process, I just started spraying, swiping off excess with a clean rag, and flicking plain rubbing alcohol onto glossy cardstock.

The tree (A Tree) was stamped in Cocoa pigment ink then embossed with clear powder.  If you weren't already aware, this is one of the big pluses to pigment ink...create your own shade of embossing.  I colored the butterflies with Creme Brulee, the birds with Goldrush, and the flowers with Sunset markers.  I then sponged a little Creme Brulee over the tree top.  I touched up the tiny dots and drew some lines on the tree trunk with a white gel pen.

My first effort at this challenge was to do a scrapbook page, but after I got it mostly done, I realized that the stickers from the Stella workshop (retired) were perfect, so I threw them all over the place.  Since they come in an array of other colors, it pretty much nixed it as my DT entry for the week, but I wanted to share it with you anyway.

Hubby and I were stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs for 2 1/2 years.  Since my "thing" is scrapbooking, I decided to get some professional shots of us at an iconic Springs attraction, Garden of the Gods.  I ended up getting a steal of a deal on the photographer because a good friend and her sister were starting up their side business.  So these amazing photos were FREE!!  The one on the far left is one of my all-time favorite photos, and that includes my wedding pictures!

Off to a Rattle Snake Derby.  Yep...you heard me right.  You'll have to come back next week to see pictures of that.

Until next time,

Becca

Home with Color My Heart

Whew!  Since I was last here, I've had a whirlwind of personal stuff:  son visiting here, trip to Washington State, haircut and color with my exceedingly talented daughter (not that I'm bragging or anything), my dad's 80th birthday celebration, home opener for the Seattle Mariners, trip to Central Washington to see my best friend, my husband's 50th birthday (including a cupcake recreation of a board game he loves), a long travel day to get from Central Washington to Seattle to Denver (where we got stuck in some snow) back to Oklahoma City and then home, and (to top it all off) my first experience with tornado warnings Wednesday night.

Like I said, Whew!!

But since you're here for the Outdoor Denim, Sky, and Gypsy Color My Heart card, I'll get right to it...

This was my first try with the chalkboard technique, and next time I will do it on smooth black cardstock instead of linen texture.  I will also take the extra time to clean off my stamp between the under layer of White Daisy ink and embossing.  The white pigment ink works great for embossing but it clouds the stamp image so I couldn't see through well enough to line it up as well as it should be.  I would have redone the entire card but I'm out of time.

I love the idea of the old-fashioned sentiment (Home Sweet Home-retired Stamp of the Month) with the modern male/female figures (Sightseer). I also liked using the flight trail from Sightseer to create a background.  The ribbon is from somewhere non-CTMH...probably Michael's.

Here are a few pictures from the rest of my adventures:

 My dad's first limo ride on the way to a FANCY restaurant.

 Mariner's home opener with the two most handsome men in my world.

 Hubby and his "Settlers of Catan" cupcake creation.

 A closer look at the cupcakes.

The view out our front window at 5pm Wednesday, April 17.

And finally, a picture I stole off Facebook to show you what the whole thing looked like.  Yep, my house is directly under the center of that big, swirly cloud.  Glad I wasn't able to see just how threatening this was until the day after we were safe and sound.

And that's the biggest "Whew!!" of all!

Now it's time to finish laundry, clean my kitchen, and get an outline written for my new novel.

Until next time,
Becca

Mom's (Juniper) Birthday

My mother's birthday was the last week of March, but since we are flying out to Washington (the state) to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday, I am taking her this Color My Heart dare card:

There are lots of changes ahead for my parents.  They are moving out of their home and into a retirement center.  I thought this sentiment (Scrapbook Sentiments-Poets) was perfect.  The floral stamp is also CTMH (Paris Floral) but is an old, wood-mounted one.  I have always loved this stamp and am so glad it got the dust brushed off for this card.  The Juniper cardstock was run through an embossing folder to get the leaves.  I then lightly brushed them with more Juniper ink to help them stand out a little more.  I used scallop-edged scissors to create the  bottom border (but you could do the same thing with the "Card" image on p. 44 of Artiste and simply cut off the top scallop border).  A satin-edged bow and touch of glitter gel in the flower centers, which just happened to form a lovely triangle (love it when good design falls into my lap unplanned), completed this monochromatic beauty.

If you've followed my blog at all, you might remember the card I posted where I messed up my Color My Heart assignment.  It was supposed to be Juniper.  Just Juniper.  Not Twilight, and certainly not Twilight with another color.  (Go to this post to see my "mess up" card.)  But it's okay.  I'll take two cards instead of one any day.

I think Mom will love the card for both its simple beauty and the challenging sentiment. 

Until next time,
Becca

Dad's 80th Birthday

Two posts in one day, but I'm getting ready to leave for a bit and need to get several birthday cards ready.  This one is for my dad's 80th.

Love the inside sentiment!  I'm turning 50 this year, and I SOOOO relate!  Here's a better shot of the balloons.  I used colored pencils and decided to stay with primary colors.  The strip of green was run through my Cuttlebug using a Stampin' Up! texture.  The buttons, sentiment, and balloon stamps are all CTMH.  I stamped the balloons then x-acto knifed around the edges where I wanted to tuck the sentiment.  After double checking the challenge sketch (see below), I then x-acto knifed around the left side of the red and yellow balloons to slide the green banner through.

I am entering this in the following challenges:

 

CASology: Up

CAS(E) this Sketch: #21  (Ooops, guess I was too late to link up!)

 

I did outline the sentiment square with a thin line of gray.  I saw this on someone's blog who took the recent online class, Pattern Play. 

 

I hope my dad laughs!!

 

Until next time,

Becca

Sew Thoughtful

Every year I make a set of note cards for my mother as a birthday present.  Since she is a former Home Ec teacher, I thought this was a perfect card for her:

The stamp set is CTMH Puns of Praise which I cut into two: image and sentiment.  I stamped the sewing machine twice; once on the patterned paper (retired) and once on the actual white circle.  I decided there was no way I could fussy cut around the spool of thread at the top or the needle in the middle of the sewing machine.  After paper piecing the sewing machine, I did add a couple touches of color: pink for shadows and purple on the wheel and buttons.

Because this was a sewing card, I didn't think I could get away with NOT sewing on it.  And, since it is a punny card, I'm entering it over at Heart2Heart: Let's have some pun fun!

Most of the cards I make for Mom are individual.  This one was so perfect for her, I made a set of eight.  She always looks forward to getting her set of cards.  This year, I have the privilege of delivering them in person.  Can't wait to see the look on her face when she pulls this one out of the bag!

Until next time,
Becca