RAIN, RAIN, COME TODAY!

I don't have a project to show today, just keep thinking about the weathermen that predicted rain today! We sure do need some rain here. Other parts of the country have more than enough to spare, and other places are so dry there are fires burning out of control.

I am working on my Artist Trading Cards for Tuesday, July 3,2012 trade, and one theme is "WATER", while the other is "CUPCAKE"! So, I have been thinking about "water" all day!  The one saying that keeps coming to mind is; "Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink!"

That is what has put me in this dark and dreary mood! Stay tuned, brighter days ahead! (I hope)

Quick Cards-part 2

The second card for today, is a paper-pieced tag, used on a card. The supplies needed for this card are;

     1 card base                                  coordinating ribbon
     1 manilla tag                                 several pieces of printed scrapbook paper or wrapping paper

For this technique, take your manilla tag and cover it with medium, or you may even use a glue stick for simplicity. Put some glue on a piece of the tag and cover with a scrap of paper. Turn the tag, apply more adhesive, and adhere another scrap of paper. Continue adhering paper until your tag is covered to your liking. Now you are ready to assemble your card.

I like to work on the tag decoration before I adhere it to the card base.  Glue, or sew elements of the tag together until you are pleased with how it looks. Tie the ribbon around the vertical spine of the card, then adhere the tag to the front of the card with Zots, or foam 3D squares.  Your card is then ready to be signed and mailed.

I want to thank you all for stopping by today, and hope these cards inspire you to get out some supplies and maybe try a fun new technique.  Stay cool, where ever you are, and I'll see you again soon.

Quick Marbled Tag Cards

Hello fellow cardmakers! Hope you are staying cool wherever you are. It is 103 here in San Antonio, so I am just enjoying the air conditioning whilest making my cards. Today I have two rather simple cards to show you, so get out your supplies, or just sit back with a cool drink while we go through them.

First, is my marbled tag card.  My supplies for this card are very basic:
     1 card base/background (green and aqua stripe)
      1 manilla tag- blank
      1 journaling tag                                 1 small rhinestone flower sticker
      2 yards of twine                                2 fabric flowers
      9" striped ribbon                               1 silver butterfly charm

The marbleing technique used on the tag contains the following;
      1 low flat sided cookie sheet                    1 roll of paper towels
      1 can of inexpensive shaving cream
      several bottles of dye reinkers- colors of your choice
You start by spreading out a layer of shaving cream on a fairly flat surface. It doesn't have to be completely flat, because once you lay the tag in it and pull it across the surface, it will be all bumpy.  Next drip drops of the reinker dye on top of the smooth shave cream and swirl them together, using a toothpick, chopstick, comb, or hair pick. The more you swirl, the muddier the colors will become, so just swirl until colors are barely spread across the surface of the foam. Then take your tag and press it gently into the top of the foam shave cream to pick up the ink dye.  Pull it up, or across the foam and place it on another paper towel or piece of newspaper.  Wipe the foam shave cream off of the tag gently with a paper towel, then discard the paper towel. Most of the dye ink will adhere to the tag in the swirl pattern you designed. Lay aside to dry!

You may press other tags, papers, book pages, etc., into the foam shave cream, until all of the dye ink is absorbed.  Wipe the foam off the items and put aside as before, and let them dry awhile. Depending how messy you have been, you may be able to smooth out the remaining foam shave cream and add a few more drops of reinker. Be sure to swirl them around so they mix just a bit. That makes the most beautiful color combinations.  When done, you can wash the remaining foam down the drain, or if there is still quite a bit of dye on it, wipe it up with paper towels and discard in the garbage. We don't want to dye our sinks with the reinkers!

* One more note of importance: The dye used will discolor your hands, so if you don't want to ruin your manicure, please wear rubber gloves!

To assemble card, take the marbled tag and adhere the journaling block,wrap the ribbon around the tag, and glue the flowers and rhinestones to the tag. You also need to tie the charm on to the tag through the large hole at the top and let it dangle.  Wrap the remaining twine around the lengthwise spine of the card and knot it on the side. Use Zot dots or foam tape to adhere the tag to the card, and your card is ready to go!
Several years ago, I taught this technique at our LSS, and we had so much fun marbling everything in sight!
With parents supervision, this would even be a fun craft for kids during the summer. Work outside, then if they get all foamy and messy, you can just turn the hose on them to wash most of it off! Also, remember to use a kid-safe washable ink if kids will be involved. It will work too!

Springtime in Paris

Happy Summer friends,
I have been coloring with my Copic markers again this week. I found this beautiful stamp called "Intermission" by B Line Designs in my stash, so I went to work with my markers.These very fashionable women look as if they may be on vacation in Paris, maybe attending the theater one hot spring or summer evening.Their beautiful lacey dresses and capelets keeping them cool and comfortable in the warm evening temperatures. This stamp is rather large and took up almost the entire front of the A2 card. I punched out an oval from cardstock and stamped "Paris", "oh la la"  and "merci beaucoup" to attach with foam dots, and added two crystals to the front of the card for depth.  I also used the Spica glitter pens from Copic to accent the dresses, belts, and jewelry of the ladies to give the card a little twinkle. All in all it made a pretty nice card, don't you think?

I love to dig through my trays of wood mounted stamps and find a stamp I haven't used in a while. Take it  and stamp it out several times, and then play with markers, colored pencils, embossing powders, glitters, and all different kinds of inks and embellishments.  Then when I finally find something that strikes my fancy, I mount it on a card base and it is ready to be mailed out to a friend or family member.  That is what I find so enjoyable about making handmade cards.  You can be as creative and artistic as you want, and still make something special for those you love. Won't you give it a try today? See you again soon.

#1 Dad and Honey Bear Cards

Two card posts today!  My little Honey Bear card turned out cute!  My good friend, Marcia gave me a set of the new 2012
Copic Marker colors for my birthday last week, so I went looking through my stash of stamps for an intricate stamp to color. Honey Bear is a Stampington & Company stamp that I stamped on white card stock and colored with the Copic markers. I then cut out the design and matted it on orange cardstock, and then an orange printed paper before adhering it to the orange printed card base. I also stamped one of the Dotted Flower stamps from Hero Arts and popped it in the corner after coloring it with the copics, too!

I also made this #1 Dad card for the Flight Plan-003 Monthly Challenge at Paper Wings Productions blog. http:/paper-wings-productions.blogspot.com

I followed the sketch for the challenge, using a printed paper strip down the length of the card, and another print ribbon strip on top. Then I stamped the rectangle with the two cameras, stars, and the word "smile" on it, colored them in with copic markers and a sparkle pen to make the cameras appear to flash.
On another strip of stock I stamped another camera, colored it, and cut it out to pop dot it on top of the rectangle. The camera's are from Paper Wings' Vintage Technology clear stamp set. The #1 Dad stamp is from a Fiskers Holiday Stamp Set and is matted twice before adhering to card front.

If you have purchased any of Paper Wings' stamp sets, you should check out and enter the contests on their blog. They are fun, plus you might win their monthly prize, a stamp set of your choice from their website.
Have fun this week, make a card or two, and I will see you again in a few . . . . . . . . . .

Butterfly Love

Hello fellow bloggers,
Summer is busting out all over, here in South Texas.  The temperature is near 100 degrees, and the humidity is close to 100% which makes for sweltering days!  I was outdoors for just a few moments this evening, and saw a beautiful butterfly dancing across my one flowering geranium plant, and I thought about this beautiful card I made over the weekend.

It was very easy to assemble, just a red metallic card base with a strip of beige embossed scrapbook paper from the Mariposa paper line glued across the side. I used my 3cornered decorative corner punch from Fiskers to punch the four corners of the strip.  I then taped and tied a length of red gingham ribbon around the front flap of the card.  The bracketed embellishment was cut from another page of the same Mariposa paper pack and pop-dotted to the top left corner. To complete the front of the card, I stamped the sentiment " I love you more than . . . " which is an AMuse artstamp in the lower right corner.

Butterflies and flowers are a beautiful sign of summer. I hope this card has inspired you to get outdoors and have some fun this summer, but if it is as hot where you live, as it is here where I do, get out your stamps and ink and printed papers and make a few wonderful cards to brighten your day!  Have fun, and I'll talk to you again soon.

June's Artist Trading Cards

Hello everyone!  This is my first post after our Artist Trading Card meeting for June. The group I meet with, gathers the first Tuesday evening of the month from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm at Stamp Antonio Arts, in San Antonio, Texas. The first picture is my cards for the trade.  Our themes were; "Zentangle/Doodling/ Flat", one layer cards, or  "With One Stamp" and the stamp chosen was the Umbrella Man from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous. I chose to do both themes.

At the meeting, I asked the other members of the group if I could post their cards for the trade on my blog and they all agreed.  These are the cards I got for the theme "Wth One Stamp"!

As you can see from the picture, there are several sizes of the Umbrella Man stamp used. Everyone does his or her own thing, and you can see how different they all look. That is what makes a group like this so much fun. You really never know what you are going to get, like Forest Gump said, "Life is like a box of chocolates... . . . ."

Our group theme for next month is "Cupcakes" & "Water".  If you think you might be interested in participating in something like this, our group is always looking for new members. Comment on this blog, stating you want more information, and I will get in touch with you, and provide you with the procedure to follow to enter the group. I would love to hear from you!

So until next time, take care, and "Be Creative" it will help you feel so good!

Newsprint Geisha Birthday

Good Sunday Evening friends,

It is June, and personally I have many birthday celebrations this time of the year. Today I made a very simple Oriental style card.

First of all I stamped one of the four Geisha Women Stamp Set from Stamp Zia on watercolor paper with Memento ink. I like to use watercolor paper when I color with Copic Markers, because the watercolor paper is thicker and doesn't bleed through the paper as much, and the Memento ink is permanent with the Copic colors. I colored the woman with my Copic Markers and then cut out around the border of the image.

Then I scrounged through my scrap pile of handmade papers and found a scrap of Oriental printed paper and tore it across the bottom of the scrap to make sure it fit inside the borders of my quarter fold card (A2).  I then adhered the scrap at the top of the card, leaving a small border on three sides, and adhered with 3M foam tape the colored Geisha image on the right side of the card, overlapping the printed scrap.  Then with an Oriental Plate stamp from Invoke Arts and Memento ink, stamped the plate on the newspaper print and the Celebrate stamp on the card directly.

With summer beginning, some of you may want to start stamping and paper crafting.  June 1st there is another monthly Flight Plan Challenge; Mission 003 going on  at Paper Wings Productions http://paper-wings-productions.blogspot.com/ . Stop on by there and get more inspiration for some GREAT projects and cards.  Keep on Stampin'!