Cell Phone Stands

Good afternoon.  A couple of weeks ago I was on the Deco Art Facebook page and an artist had made some beautiful cell phone stands.  So, I inquired where to get the blanks, and ordered a few to make for my girls for Christmas.  I will put the link here, but they are now more than double what I paid for mine...just so you know.  Creative Arts Lifestyle 

 

So, they came, and I got out the acrylic paints, some stamps, and some ink.  I painted mine so they are double sided...gives you two surfaces you can interchange. 

My granddaughter likes camo and cats, so that was easy.  I chose 3 pinks, a gray, and some silver foil and made some camo.  I stamped her name using a Stampin' Up alphabet and Gina K Amalgam ink. I love this ink and used it on all the images.  When dry, it doesn't smear or bleed, so it's great for coloring with alcohol ink markers or watercoloring.  It's my new go-to ink.

For the other side, I painted bright colors and stamped one of the Tim Holtz Crazy Cats along with the fish bones, milk and ball of yarn.  I used a stamp positioner to stamp the images, then I painted them with acrylic ink, then stamped them again to make them pop.  

The white part can be removed and the back turned around, which is why I left it white.

For the next holder, I used a Stampin' Up mermaid stamp and free-handed the fish and kelp.  Again, I used a stamp positioner to stamp the mermaid, painted her with acrylic paint, then stamped her again, for a crisp image.

There is glitter on the mermaid tail, and glitter on the bubbles.

The other side of the holder I painted white, then stamped the flowers (Gina K, I think), dragonfly (Stampin' Up), and leaves (Ranger Dylusions).

I painted the images with acrylic paint and then stamped again when it was dry. I put glitter on the dragonfly for some sparkle.

I'm not a great artist, but I am happy with the way they turned out.  I have a couple more to make and will share them at a later date.

Hope you are staying cool.  It's still hot as blazes here.  I am waiting for late October for some relief from the heat.

Happy stamping...

With Sympathy...

Good morning, friends. Still waiting for cooler weather.

Nobody likes to have to send sympathy cards, but occasionally it's necessary.  I found myself in that position this week.  A friend from a card swapping group I'm in lost her husband, and so I found myself having to make a sympathy card.  Since this card is going overseas, I didn't want a lot of bulk.

I grabbed some spray inks and spritzed white cardstock.  Then, when dry, I ran it through an embossing folder.  I liked the texture it gave.  I added some silver pen highlights to some of the embossed flower centers.

Next I got out some Stampin Up!™ flower stamps (Flower Shop #130942 and Petite Petals - retired) and stamped them in a light blue on white cardstock, punched them out and adhered together.  Added some Nuvo Crystal Drops in the center. 

I needed some leaves, so I got out my Gina K. Designs Stitched Leaves stamps, and die cut and stamped the leaved. 

The With Sympathy stamp is also Gina K. Designs, but I can't find the name of it, so it may be discontinued.  There is a beautiful sentiment for the inside that goes along with it.

Happy with the results, but sad for the circumstances.

Inky hugs,

Flicking and Flinging Fun

What in the world?

I had so much fun making these cards.  I'm not much of a flower person, and I can't tell a begonia from a petunia (well, maybe I'm not THAT bad), so to be able to add dibs and dabs of color was perfect for me.

Here are a couple of my creations. Sorry they aren't straight, but I wasn't feeling well when I took the pictures.

These cards are very easy to make.  This blog has all the information (including videos) that you need to create your own flower masterpiece.  I did watch the video to see how in the world she got the long stems, and it was well worth the time spent.

This one resembles poppies, I think.  Or a field of some kind of red flowers.   I just started with watercolor paper and watercolored a basic background of blue sky and green grass.  After that was dry, then the fun began.  Now, this is a messy process, so be aware of that before you start.  But anyone who knows me knows that I'm not afraid to get dirty making art. I have a little 3 sided box that I put stuff in that catches overspray, etc., and it was put to use making these cards. 

Once your background is dry, get out several shades of green acrylic paint.  I had 2 shades of green, and made a 3rd shade by adding a little white to the darkest.  Then start flicking the acrylic paint from your paintbrush onto the watercolor paper.  If you use the brush to flick the paint off your finger, you will get the long stems.  That's what I called flinging.  :-)  It doesn't take long for the acrylic paint to dry.

When that was dry I then added my flowers and flicked a little bit of that color onto the bottom part of the card as well.  Looks like a windy day with leaves and petals blowing around.  :-)  

I had so much fun, I made about 6 or 8 of these cards. Of course, every one is different, and every one had different colored or multicolored flowers. And they can be used for a multitude of occasions.

I hope you try this, and I hope you have fun.  I will definitely do this again.  Soon.

Inky hugs,

The Altered Letter

Good morning!  I hope it's beautiful where you are.  We were fortunate that Hurricane Matthew was wobbling when it went past us, and we didn't get the 140 mph winds that were forecast.  It was bad enough, but not nearly as bad as it could have been for us.

Today I want to share a project that I am working on. I bought some wooden letters, and I have been working on altering them.  This is the first one...

It has been a fun project, that is ongoing, and I am enjoying working on different letters.  

To alter this letter, I first painted the letter with gesso.  Then I painted it the base color with acrylic paints.  When that was dry, I got out my texture paste and some stencils.  I mixed a little spray inks and/or color burst powders with the texture paste to make it colored.  Then I spread the paste through the stencils to get the raised portion.  I let that dry.  I also sprayed some of the spray inks and moved it around to give it a variegated look (some parts lighter, some darker).  After it was dry, I coated the entire thing with a glossy sealer.

While that was drying, I die cut some flowers and leaves and colored them with my alcohol ink markers.  I also die cut the butterfly out of glitter paper. I adhered a piece of burlap around the stem of the R, then adhered my flowers.  I added some sequins, and pearls to the flower centers.  A little glitter glue on the textured flower centers finished it off.

I think the person who is going to receive this will love it.  Blue is her favorite color.  And I have another friend who loves purple, so I made this one for her:

I didn't get a good picture of this one, I got too much reflection back off the glossy sealer. But I already gave it to her and she loved it.  And I will be working on more of these, they are fun!

Hope you have enjoyed.   Have a great day!

Becky

P.S.  I played along at the Mod Squad Challenge blog and won in the Top 3 for my letter R.  Woohoo!

Birthday Challenge

Good morning!

I am having so much fun entering challenges at the Mod Squad Challenge Blog.  The challenge this week is to make a birthday card.  Here are the two I made. I hope you (and they) like them.

For the first card I masked off a piece of white cardstock and sponged ink on the right hand side. Then I used a script stamp and stamped over the sponged ink. I wasn't careful and didn't care if the script stamp was perfect or not, but it gives the look two layers, a white one that's stamped over a tan one with script. The other stamps were stamped on the white cardstock and colored with copic and spectrum noir markers. The flower, sentiment and butterfly are Gina K. Design stamps, the flourish is Cherry Pie Art Stamps, and the script is unknown.

For the second card I made a latch card, which was just featured on Splitcoast Stampers yesterday.  It was fun to make, and in retrospect I would put a butterfly where the latch flower is, but since this was my first attempt, I'm happy.  The flowers and sentiment are from Gina K. Designs.  

Hope you like my entries.

Watercolors

Hello!  I've been playing with my watercolors again.  There is just something that I like about the look that I love, and even though I haven't mastered the technique yet, I'm getting closer.  I just need to practice more (a good excuse to stamp, I'm thinking).

I wanted to enter the Mod Squad Challenge, so this is what I came up with:

I used a Hero Arts stamp and colored it with markers.  Then I spritzed it and stamped it on a watercolored background.  I spattered the blue with my paintbrush.  I love the softness.  It's just a clean and simple card, and I like that the watercolored image is the focal point.

The next card is on a watercolored background.  I used the flowers from Gina K Designs Frames and Flowers kit and a Heidi Swapp sentiment.  The centers of the flowers are watercolored and I used gold micro beads for the centers.

The next card is also from the Frames & Flowers set from Gina K. Designs.  I colored the carnation stamp with markers and stamped, then I stamped the jar with a black Palette stamp pad and watercolored the water, along with more watercolors on the carnation.

On the following card I heat embossed the image with black embossing powder then watercolored the background.  I like the way it turned out.

The fish stamp from My Paper Moon was stamped with Noir (black) Palette ink. I have found it doesn't run like the Memento ink when it's spritzed with water.  I watercolored the fish and his background, then matted it and placed it on a watercolor splatted background. I used various shades of blue sequins for the air bubbles.

So, as you can see, I got to play a little bit this weekend.  Practice makes perfect, so I'm hoping to get a little more practice in this week.  :-)

I hope you get to be crafty this week!

Gelli Prints

Hello, once again.

Here is the latest project I have been working on. I used one of the background papers from my gelli plate to make the background for the flowers. I wish the scan had been better, but it is really pretty in real life. There are greens, browns, and honey colors on white cardstock, and it makes a striking background.

The butterfly is also punched from a piece of paper made with the gelli plate. I had enough to punch a few butterflies, but only used the one on the card.  

The top of the card was a part of a die cut where I had used the rest of it for another project, so I stamped it with script then sponged some brown ink on it.

I wanted to mail the card, so lumpy was out. Therefore, I punched some centers for the flowers and put some glitter glue on them for some sparkle.

Now it's your turn to make something crafty.

Embellished Embossing Folder

Hello!

Today I want to share a card I made using only an embossing folder and a punch and some markers.

(Click on image for a larger view)

I smeared some blue ink on glossy cardstock to simulate the sky.  Then I ran the cardstock through the Cuttlebug using tree embossing folder.  Then I colored the image using Bic markers.  I liked how it turned out, but I really wanted it to have a little more oomph to it, so I punched out some little flowers using some yellow scrap cardstock, then added orange glitter to the centers. I adhered these to the tree randomly, then added some green glitter to the leaves.  That was just what it needed.

I hope you have enjoyed.

Hope you have a stamp happy day!

Valentine's - part 2

Here is the next Valentine I made:

I used scrap metallic trim, buttons, stickers, flowers, charms, stamps, feathers, and paper doilies to make this card.

The background paper is from Romeo and Juliet, so it was appropriate to the card.  The tiny hearts on the flower centers are stickers, and the key ring and heart lock are charms I had stashed away.

Very easy.  Hope you enjoy.

Floral Triptych

Hello!  It's been a bit since I last posted, but I've been rather busy.  It's the time of year to make Christmas cards, but I wanted to take a break from that.

I love ATCs.  To me, they are the perfect sized canvas to work with.  And they are much easier to store than regular cards.  I do make regular A2 sized cards on occasion, but I'm addicted to the ATCs.  So, today I am sharing the triptych I made of some flower stamps and punches. Each of the panels is ATC sized (3-1/2 x 2-1/2), but they are folded so that they are in a Z shape, and will sit nicely on my desk.  So the entire panel is 7-1/2" x 3-1/2".

(click for a larger image)

This would be the front. of the panel.  Since it's folded, it's easy to make each panel have a different background without too much masking. The round letters that spell "flower" are stamped, punched out and then layered with crystal lacquer. They are from EK Success.  The flower stamps are from The Angel Company.

And here is the back:

(click for larger image)

It looks pretty sitting on my desk at work, since you can see the front and back.  And it reminds me that at some point I CAN go home and play.

Making this one has given me an idea to make some for some people I have working relationships with.  I can tailor them to suit their interests, and they will look nice on their desks, too.  ;-)

I hope I have inspired you today. 

Celebration Card

Another pretty card by Shelly Hinkle using My Paper Moon stamps. The colors could be changed to reflect YOUR favorite color. :-) Here is another card made with the same flower bouquet...

Notice how it's backwards? That's because it was stamped on acetate, and the back side of the acetate was colored, then layered onto smooshed up aluminum foil.

I am thinking about getting in some COPIC Ciao marker sets for the holidays. Let me know if you would be interested. There are several sets of 12, and a set of 144, and several in between. You can email me at mypapermoon512@aol.com or just leave a comment. The prices would be discounted off MSRP, but I'm not exactly sure how much yet.

Hope you have a crafty day!

Just Because...

I have read a couple of places online about purchasing flowers at your craft store and using them on your cards. So, I decided to give it a try. I got lots of flowers from the stems, and I even cut a few of the leaves and saved them for later use. The above card uses a couple. I like the pearl bead in the center. Small flowers and flat flowers work best. The daisies I got came in several different sizes. I like the white ones because you can tint them with your reinkers or inkpads and make them whatever color you choose. I have even watercolored them for a soft look.

I think summertime has finally found it's way to Florida. It has been really hot for the last few days, and it's unbearable. If we got rain during the day, it would only make it more humid and muggy, but we could use some rain during the evening or night. Everything is brown looking and one good rain would green things up. A couple of days it has turned dark like we would get some rain, but it goes either to the west or south of us. Kind of like today. We don't need the lightning to start fires, but we do need the rain.

When I get my new rubber, I need to either give out some stamps as blog candy or have a contest so you can win some. Which would you rather see? Take my poll (located at the top left of the page) and let me know.

What have you been up to lately? Talk to you soon...

Foil Painting Continued

As promised, here are 2 scans of my foil painting. Very easy, and they really look elegant in person.


The easy instructions are in my previous post. Give it a try, you'll be pleasantly surprised.