My First Win!

I won the Art Impressions Challenge this week! I am so thrilled. Not only did I get recognition on their blog, but also a prize pack of more products.

Time to celebrate!

 

 

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Lovely, lovely, lovely

I am learning new tricks with the silhouette cameo. Modify, compound paths, offsets, welding... They are starting to make sense... sort of. I followed a detailed instruction video to create and cut the pattern for a flourish frame.

I used this teal color cardstock, backed it with coordinating stripes and used Zing embossing powder for the sentiment. Ok, one down, can I do this on my own?

 

 

I think I can. I downloaded these digital dies from the silhouette store. For the word, I welded it into a circle with an external offset, and I also built a border card with rounded corners with a circle cut out, just smaller than the lovely circle. These I cut from both white and purple cardstock. For the love birds I used my penholder and a fine tip marker to draw the birds and heart, then I used the trace function to outline and sent them back for a cut. I colored them with markers. The You & Me was stamped with black ink and cut to size. I used an aqua blue cardstock for backing and mounted everything to a white base.

 

 

 

 

On this card I used the purple lovely with the white border card. The inside oasis green flower pattern cardstock came with my Simon Says February kit as did the flower, leaf and "YOU ARE" stamps. I used versa magic oasis green ink to stamp the coordinating border flowers and eggplant for the sentiment. One purple stripe on the right border finished off this card.

 

 

 

Keep going. Now why not use the negative space too? I wasn't able to salvage the first cut, but this one, I reserved all the pieces. I put adhesive on a piece of white cardstock and glued all the negative pieces on top, then cut a border circle in white. I mounted the lovely circle onto a heavy weight glitter cardstock. Used a hero arts stamp for the sentiment with versa magic eggplant ink and heat embossed with clear powder. I layered the card with white and dark purple, then placed 3 silver gems for embellishment.

 

 

 

With a couple of hours until I had to start dinner I did one more card. I used to save my kits when I got them, but no more... Use them up! This card was done using the March kit stamps and patterned cardstock. I used a border I had cut with the cameo, a couple of shiny stars and some stickles. The card is mounted on a red Bazzill with navy and white borders.

 

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Party time

So I stepped outside the box a little this morning with my card design. Ok. Maybe a lot out of the box. I read the Simon Says Monday challenge PASTE and went art journalistic. I bought some hat stamps a while ago and I wanted to use them, actually I have a number of stamps I haven't used yet and with a couple of new recent orders for more stuff on the way, I thought perhaps I should do it today.

I absolutely adore using stencils, especially with inks, but today, I pulled out all the stops. This card is layered with ink, gold ferro, modge podge, crackle paint, embossing powders, glitter, chip board, stickers and even dictionary pages. It'll probably cost the 3 ounce rate to send in the mail.

But there it is.

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Love getting krafty

So I found these gorgeous try folds by Art Impressions. I really improved my coloring as I worked on each of the designs. I used prismacolor pencils and Gamsol to blend. I think they are adorable. The best one I decided to mount on Kraft cardstock to make it a perfect A2 card and make it eligible for this challenge.

These are super clever stamp sets! I hope I can find more of them.

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Work first, play later

I promised myself before I got out of bed this morning that I could not come into my workshop until the house was clean. I put in a few of hours of tough labor and even blew off exercise because I figured I got enough of a workout scrubbing all the floors. Done. Play time.

I made this card a couple of days ago. I downloaded my freebie of the week from Silhouette last Tuesday and had done some fun things with the feather die. Since I always like to use the negative space as well I stenciled the feathers with distress inks. That was how it started, then I applied clear embossing powder and heat set it. I colored and cut the hummingbird which lead me to the Simon Says card kit floral stamps. I love the stamps that have separated the outline and inside so you can get the contrast. Love these colors! The next day I used my big kick to cut Happy Birthday right out of the flowers, raised it with multiple cuts of the same die in white card stock. Glued them all together and replaced the flower parts. If you look closely you can see how the message stands out. Labor of love.

Ok, so I was watching the Simon blog hop and saw the new line of products included a balloon die and everyone was using it. I can make it with my new toy, so I did. I followed K. Werner's idea to use distress inks to paint on watercolor paper. How cool. Little Sarah's first birthday is coming up so I also cut 1st out with my cameo, glued 4 together so they would pop out, then used one of the sizzix embossing folders to make the curly background. Since there was painted paper left over, I cut some hearts in various colors and glued them on, tied a bow with the silver yarn and mounted the whole thing to Bazzill "candy necklace" colored card base.
More play time ahead. What shall I do next? Hmmmmmm.

No Andy, it is not walk time yet.

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Collateral Damage

 

I so enjoy getting two for one, collateral damage, so to speak. When I read the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge was a cameo appearance I was excited that I could use my silhouette to cut black paper, outline only. With my own anniversary coming up, I decided on the perfect card, You and Me (below).

The bonus card, on the left, I created using the negative space of the die. I tried several inks and water color pens to get good coverage, but finally it was satisfactory (but not perfect). Even though I had distressed the cardstock, it was missing a vintage element so I layered a hero arts manuscript background stamp in desert sand across the front, added a black ribbon with red brads and mounted to a vintage rose pattern paper. A necklace of red gems provided just enough embellishment to make it interesting.

 

For this card I used a hero arts cling stamp with Versamark ink and clear powder as the background, a fiskars all year cheer Me & You stamp and I needed an appropriate sentiment on the bottom. I used an impression obsession stamp that said "wishing you many lovely tomorrows" and masked out the YOU and replaced with US. Then I put heavy glossy accents on a small pink heart and placed it between the couple. So romantic, aahhhhhh.

 

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So Long CFC128

Dachshund die with basic grey letters. Background teardrops.

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Discoveries!

It has been a while since I posted to my blog. I am really loving my valentines gift, a silhouette cameo. I have been doing all kinds of testing and trials to see what I can do with it. I have only scratched the surface; there is so much more to discover.

My daughter said she needed a wedding card for an upcoming event, so I used the free silhouette Tuesday download to make this Mr & Mrs die. I cut six of them out of white card stock and glued them together. Then used silver embossing powder with Versamark and a heat gun. I took a studio calico sentiment and masked out the PEACE line, then made a bow out of black cardstock. I mounted each on a piece of white card stock I ran through the big kick with a sizzix embossing folder, backed with decorative black and white paper, another layer of black all on a white base.

I had no baby cards in my stash, but I did have a big baby dear stamp. I searched the internet for a baby carriage and imported to the silhouette and cut it in pink. So intricate! But I couldn't stop with a pink card, I needed a blue one too. I used the negative space from the die and created the blue card. Two for one.

 

I used a tim holtz stencil to make this background in oranges and yellows. It made me think of a garden, so I stamped flowers, butterfly and dragonfly. The thank you is a die created from the silhouette cameo. Again, I cut 6 and glued them together, then mounted on the honeycomb. I used some wink of Stella to give it some shine.

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This not 1960 and I am not Donna Reed.

Last week I asked my husband if he had thought about what he might get me for valentine's day. He said "yes". I said, "please do not get me chocolate or flowers". He said "I was thinking jewelry, I want to get you pearls". Very thoughtful, yes, but, really? 20 years ago I would have loved Mikimoto's but today? I wear sweats, Jammie's, shorts... You find me either in my workshop playing crafts or in the kitchen chopping up my next gourmet creation. Granted, Donna Reed prepared dinner in pearls, but this is not 1960, and I am not Donna Reed. So he asked me to think about what I did want.....

By the end of the day, I had come up with a better idea. I wanted a toy I could play with... I asked for a Silhouette Cameo, electronic die cutter. He had no idea what it was, but told me to go ahead and order it. So I did. Amazon Prime.. 2 days later it came to the doorstep. I believe I saved big bucks opting for the toy instead of pearls, not only because the equipment was much less expensive, but it also will render significant savings long term since I won't need to buy wafer thin dies.

I made 5 cards during the last few days using my new machine. I got 51 free dies with the software plus a $10 download credit. Additionally the software provides design options with shapes and lines and import options. I have a lot to learn and need to practice with all the bells and whistles.

On the down side, the machine only does the cutting, all the work is done on the computer. It doesn't work with an IPAD. So I had to confiscate John's laptop. I used to have my own, but it died in January 2012 and I haven't gotten around to getting a new one. My IPAD does everything I need... Til now. I'm not sure when he'll realize his purchase may have been his loss. This is the first card (right) I did with a homemade Hello. I like the contrast with black and white. I used wink of Stella and glossy accents on the rainbow colors.

I am loving what I can do with this new cutter, not only do I create the die cuts, but the stencil too. The butterflies (left) is a multi media card. I started by using a butterfly stencil (I made) and inked with my daubers. The next layer are all my Inkadinkado butterflies stamped in black. I also stamped the sentiment in black on velum and finished with 3 mini butterflies cut on my big kick and glued on. I love this card. The first card below was done with the leaves die, floral die and the text option to create "Thanks". I used green and gold card stock in the cutter and thought it would show off best on the navy blue card base. The second card was done with my ferro special effects paste on a honeycomb stencil. Once dry, I ran the same leaves die on white cardstock, stamped and colored the bees and added an embossed greeting on black. The second navy blue card used the other green leaves with my favorite bird and a flower die. The greeting was embossed with Zing green. I love all my new toys!

 

 

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Double Take

I bought this beautiful Penny Black die last week. I love iris, it is probably my favorite flower. The challenge at Addicted to CAS this week is LOVE. Since I had all my valentines cards done already I went a different direction and made this card. I ran the die through twice, once in lavender and once in green cardstock. Then I cut each and glued them on top of one another. The base is a spell binders bark embossed cardstock and the label is a sizzix die. I stamped the greeting with Eggplant versa magic and secured it with green brads on a silver edged ribbon. It has several parts but a very Clean and Simple look.

Attending the online stenciled class taught me to use the negative space of die cuts as stencils. So I can now often get two cards each time I use a die. The card below was created with distress ink and the Hero Arts greeting stamped with the same Versa Magic ink. Simple, but elegant. Thank you very much.

 

 

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Swing

I haven't been in my workshop for what seems likes days. Between taxes and housework my energies have been spent elsewhere. Today I was able to get some creative juices flowing and created this card.

I have had this ornate tree die for a few weeks but had not tried it on a card yet. Because of its twists and curves it wouldn't cut in one pass, or two for that matter. It took several layers and angles to get a clean cut through my big kick. But alas, success.

I needed a twine or string element for a weekly challenge so I went with a rope swing. For another challenge I needed to create an element extending off the card, so I moved the tree over and added a red dove, and a third challenge was to use a Hero Arts stamp in a rainbow of colors for a birthday card. I used distress inks to color a rainbow background then added a couple of my favorite high flying birds with a little wink of Stella. So here it is... Just saying hello..... hope you have a swinging birthday!

• CASual Friday CFC 127 clean and simple with an element that extends off the edge
• Hero Arts Rainbow of colors
• Simon Says Stamp - anything goes with twine or string

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Tax Bowl day

Today is tax day, which means no play time until the work is done. I am dreading the contents of the jelly cabinet. That is where all the paperwork goes during the year. Every January I have good intentions to sort as I go, but that never lasts long. Fortunately, the paper has diminished significantly over the years as most transactions are completed online. I already jammed the shredder earlier this week discarding my 7 year stash. It is always interesting to see what has changed between then and now. One shocker was the cost of cable TV. How did that get so out of control? Multiple TVs, multiple DVRs, multiple tiers, phone, internet... That's how.

 

It is the necessary evil that must get done. I prefer to tackle it now in the unlikely event that I have successfully played the deduction game this year and either Uncle Sam or Govenor Haley (or both) will graciously return some. Past years I have tipped in favor of Uncle Sam only to rob Peter to pay Paul, if you know what I mean.

Hopefully I will find some play time today. After the taxes are done, the dogs need their walk and it's bath day for both of them. I also plan to make three amigo chili and beer bread for tonight's sporting event. Some football game, I think.

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