Hello Friend

  I am playing today with my Jumbo Blossom Beauty stamps from Stampendous.  I have been taking a class on My Creative Classroom.com learning how to color the face stamp and flower it comes with.  This is one of my "practice" faces, one that I colored with Prismacolor colored pencils, and another one of the jumbo flowers available "the Hydrangea"!

I have been trying to squeeze the face and flowers on an A2 size quarter-fold card, which really isn't easy.

The face is fun, and the various flowers are awesome, especially since I love flowers!  So here is what I did to complete this card.

First of all, I prepared an A2 card front with a piece of patterned paper 1/4" smaller all the way around. I then stamped out the face and colored it in with Prismacolor pencils.  I love Prismacolor pencils because they are so creamy and really do blend well when layered.  I stamped the hydrangea cluster stamp on X-press Blending card and colored them in with my Copic markers.  There is also a single flower that I stamped and colored also, so I could adhere it with foam tape and pop it up for dimension. One of the exclusives of these jumbo flower stamps, is that Stampendous also has the wafer thin dies that match the flowers so you can cut them out quickly and layer them if you wish.  I love to fussy cut, so I didn't purchase all the dies that were available.

The glasses that I cut for the face were described on a video on YouTube from Stampendous.  There are several videos available from the designer of the faces and flowers line, and she gives you great ideas on projects to use the faces and lovely flowers. She also gives ideas on different hair styles you can draw, paint, or create if you want your face to have hair instead of the jumbo flowers. To complete the card, I trimmed off several of the flowers that hung off the edge of the card. I also added a small banner saying, "hello Friend"!

Have a nice week, leading up to a wonderful weekend. I am busily trying to finish my "class project" from My Creative Classroom.com, and will share it with you as soon as I do. 

Mindy

Lilac Festival

Happy Monday Friends! My card today is another one of the Art Impressions 'Try'folds stamp sets, "Gazebo". This stamp set is currently available from the Classy Cards 'N Such online store.

You start out by cutting a piece of card stock 51/2" X 11" and scoring it in thirds.  On the center panel you stamp the Gazebo section. You then turn the card over and stamp the Archway with table on one side, next to the fold line, and on the other side stamp the Sign, gifts, and hat box next to the fold line.  Then using your favorite coloring agent (I used my Copics) color in the designs with the suggested colors or some of your own choice.  I colored mine today in various shades of purple and lilac.  When you complete the coloring you then fussy cut around the images on each side, from the outside edge of the card towards the folds. When you reach the fold, turn your scissors and cut straight up along the fold to the top of the card.  You can then fold the side flaps in to make your "tri-fold" card. I then mounted mine onto a 41/4" X 51/2"  A2 size piece of Stardream Punch Metallic card stock, just to give it a little more strength on the backing.

I am entering this card in the Classy Cards 'N Such Weekly Challenge #32- Lilac Festival.

To add a little more sparkle to this beautiful card, I highlighted some of the elements with my clear Wink of Stella glitter pen. Purple is one of my favorite colors, so don't be surprised if you see more cards with this color scheme during the week.

I Thank My Lucky Stars. . . . .

That sentiment bears repeating,  "I thank my lucky stars for You!"  I will be celebrating my Second Year Blog-a-versary with you all here on my blog.  

To thank you all for following and participating in my blog, by commenting and critiquing, I wanted to have a special give-away!  The problem is, I have been attending two classes this past month, and have been so busy, I haven't had a chance to prepare much.  So, I have decided to celebrate the "Beginning" of my third year by celebrating next week.  Stay tuned for some fun to participate in, the week of May 12, through May 20, 2014.

Hummingbird For You Mom!

Another Mother's Day card that is fun and easy to make, that any Mother would be happy to receive this Sunday. I started with a natural card stock base folded to an A2 size card.  I then took a handwriting stamp from Oriental Trading Co.and stamped it twice on the card front with London Fog grey Memento ink.  I then took three colors of Gelatos, (Lemon, Tangerine, and Buttercream) and smeared them on in vertical stripes. I then took a baby wipe and gently blended the colors, rubbing in a circular motion. (lightest color to darkest) Let the card dry completely. 

While the card is drying, I got my papers and flower die, leaves, and hummingbird die together with my Cuttlebug machine. The dies are from Dee's Distinctively- A Cut Above, and I used Stardream Metallic Papers from the Classy Cards 'N Such online store. For the hummingbird, I used Neenah Metallic White Gold card stock and Stardream Fuse Azalea. The Bell Flowers and Leaves were cut from Stardream Azalea and Stardream Emerald. The Stardream papers are so beautiful with a lovely metallic sheen that doesn't show up well on film. But the cards, in person, are stunning! The flowers and birds feathers are shaped with a ball stylus so that they appear 3D on the card. The sentiment words came from the Parentville stamp set from Winnie & Walter, llc. 

I am submitting this card to the Classy Cards 'N Such Weekly Challenge #31, Mother's Day

I hope you have enjoyed this card, you still have time to make your Mother a beautiful handmade card and gift, if you so wish. Have a great weekend, and don't forget to celebrate Mother's Day with your Mother!

Mindy

Bake Mom a Cake!

Mother's Day is coming this Sunday, May 11, 2014. You still have time to make your Mother a card, and when paired with some flowers or a gift bag of crafty items you can be sure Mom will have a happy day! I stamped and colored this wonderful Cupcake decorated cake, and to me it looks "good enough to eat!"

I stamped this wonderful rubber stamp from Impression Obsession called "Cupcakes".  It is available in the Classy Cards 'N Such online store along with other media to color in the details of this stamp. I stamped my image with Tuxedo Black Memento ink, and colored it in with various alcohol based markers, such as Copic's, Spectrum Noir, or Touch markers from ShinHanArt.  The sentiment used is from the "Parentville" clear set from Winnie& Walter, llc. After coloring, I mounted the image on a red A2 card front and edged around the card with a red Copic marker and bright pink Wink of Stella glitter pen.

I am entering this card in the Classy Cards 'N Such Weekly Challenge # 31, Mother's Day.  Be sure to check out all of the wonderful ideas by other stampers and the talented design team at Classy Cards.

See you again soon.

Blossom Beauty

Welcome Friends! Today's post is a page from my Art Journal, using the New Stampendous Stamp Set, "Blossom Beauty!" I was so excited when a friend, Diane Hover, brought it to my attention, that I knew I had to order it at once! (she is one of my enabler's)  It is a two stamp set, with a large face, and a large flower. Since the images were larger than normal, I knew I would need help in shading and coloring this image. I searched the Internet, and found a class coloring just this set at My Creative Classroom, with the renown artist, Jennie Black.  She is a wonder with Watercolors and most markers, including Copic Markers (my favorite!). I am in the process of taking this class, and have many practice images to play with, that don't look half bad. This is my first attempt at coloring the face and flowers. Please enjoy!

I'm sorry I won't be able to give a step-by-step tutorial on how I colored the stamps, but there are classes available if you are interested.  Once your coloring is complete, there are other videos available on You

Tube, that will help you add hair, dresses, etc. to your stamped images from Stampendous.

To create the journal page I made, I first applied a layer of fluid Cream acrylic and fluid Ultramarine Violet acrylic paint from Golden Products to the blank page in dots.  I then blended the two colors somewhat with my brush, and then let them dry.  I die cut my large flowers from the Blossom Die set that is also available through Stampendous.  There are three dies in the set that cut the full flower, the small center area (like her necklace) and the center with the next layer of petals, to give you a stacked set of petals in case you want to give your flower more dimension. I fussy cut around the face, and the dress (downloaded from one of the YouTube videos).  When the background was dry, I stamped on it with a texture stamp and Love Letter Memento ink, and a small Hibiscus stamp from Deadbeat Designs stamped in Grape Jelly Memento ink. The single Hibiscus stamp from Deadbeat Designs was stamped on her dress in Grape Jelly ink also. 

I then attached them to my page with Regular Gel Medium from Golden Products. I love the Golden Mediums because their water content is low, and they don't leave the paper images or pages warped or wrinkled. I first attached the face, and then layered on the dress, and then the two large flowers. I set this all aside to dry, and then came back with the small center of the large flower and used foam tape to attach it to the page.  I used it to cover a smudge of ink on her chin that I couldn't remove or erase. 

Each time I color the face, I get a different look, which I really enjoy. There are so many ways to use these stamps, and I have several ideas already on projects I want to use them on. I hope you will enjoy, and leave me a comment on ideas you think would look good with this stamp. I also hope you had a wonderful National Scrapbooking Day on Saturday!  I don't do much scrapbooking, but I do enjoy working in my Art Journal, which is what I did on NSD this year.  Have a great week, and I will see you again soon.

Mindy

Hey Neighbor!

Howdy, Friends! Welcome to May 2014.  The start to another new month, boy how these months fly by!  I have a fun card to share with you today.  A scene stealer if I have ever seen one. i started out with a piece of watercolor paper that I had spritzed with several different Dylusions  Inks.  I cut it into smaller pieces to fit on the A2 size card base, so I have several different ones to pick from.

I then stamped out my parts of my scenery on Express Blended Card stock suitable for Copic coloring. I used the Thelma standing stamp from Deadbeat Designs, the Garden fence and bucket from Art Impressions, and the Bloodhound dog stamp from Art Impressions. I stamped the dog stamp first, and then masked it off, using a post-it note, before stamping the gate with bucket  Garden stamp. After coloring in the pieces with my Copic markers, I fussy cut around the dog and gate images leaving a small white border around the images. I also cut around Thelma after coloring her with the Copics, and then set the pieces aside to dry.  I then used my Cloud Stencil from Memory Box to stencil Golden Light Molding Paste in several of the cloud cut outs. As the clouds were drying, some of the Dylusion Inks bled up through the molding paste. I learned through my Art Journaling class I have been taking, that if you will be stenciling on your background, do that first, then apply the water based ink colors. 

This is what happened on this card. I applied the paste over the inks, and they re-activated with the wet paste and bled into the cloud shapes. So, to repair the clouds, I applied a layer of white Posca acrylic paint pen over the top of the stenciled cloud to make them whiter.

To complete the card, I die-cut a banner die, and then stamped it with a sentiment from the Howdy clear stamp set from My Favorite Things. I attached the fence and dog section with foam dots on the background to give it dimension.  I then placed Thelma behind the fence to look as if she was leaning on the other side of the fence. I attached the banner with foam tape to the right of the image, and glued a tiny gold star sequin for accent.

This card makes a great Friendship card, Thinking of You, or Welcome Neighbor card. I hope you all have a great weekend, and enjoy the beginning of May!