The 2 Of Us {CardMaker and May Arts Hop}

Hello Folks! Welcome to my blog today :) I am participating in a big ol' fabulous Valentine's themed card blog hop between May Arts Ribbon / The Ribbon Resource and Cardmaker.

The hop is as follows:

CardMaker
Amy Rysavy
DeeDee Catron <--- you are here!
Carisa Zglobicki
Gini Williams Cagle
Jenifer Cowles
Dawn Lusk
Jennifer Davey
Karen Baker
Kim Klinkovsky
Karen Hanson
Latrice Murphy
Linda Beeson
Lori Williams
Michele Kosciolek
Lisa Silver
Rebecca VanDeMark
Tami Mayberry
Pamela Haskin
Terri Burson
Jen Shears
Tracy McLennon
The Ribbon Resource

If you follow through and comment on everyone's posts you will be entered to win ONE of TWO $25 gift certificates to The Ribbon Resource. 

The card I bring you today is a non-traditional color theme for Valentine's Day... but that doesn't stop it from being AHmazing! Packed full of goodness and lots of little nods and tips to a couple makes me anxious to hand this over to the Mr.! I am thankful that he doesn't mind a little frill, too... haha. Anyways.. here's my card!

The base for my card actually comes from a pack of card bases put out by Strathmore! It's a nice heavy watercolor paper and we all know... I love watercolor paper! So when I found these in my stash I promptly placed them on my desk... and they waited to be used. I layered the card with my Lost and Found collection for 7 Dots Studio. It's jam packed full of vintage toned and patterned papers. I utilized the 6x6 which brings all the 12x12 papers into miniature patterns.. making them perfect for card making. Even the 1+1=2 flashcard comes from the back of one my papers.

Before I glued down the mini flashcard, I stamped a Viva Las VegaStamps! (Early Morning Swahili) stamp in the background with Black Archival ink by Ranger. I also splattered some watered down gesso and Daler Rowney ink in the background. Then comes the gluing of some embellishments.. The giant two is a wooden piece I picked up from the Paper Issues shop in a pack.. I can't remember the manufacturer, sorry! The crown at the top is one of many crown profiles in the Crown Mash by UmWowStudio. It's been covered in Art Sugar by Finnabair for Prima Marketing. The XOXO alphas are by Tim Holtz.

THE OF US alphas are from an older line by 7DS. And the final gorgeous embellishment is made up of TONS of scraps of ribbons from May Arts. I've used Burlap Twine, White Silk, Paper Cording, Box Pleats, Satin Pleats, Mini PomPoms, Double Faced Satin, Champagne Crushed, and even a couple I can't name! They've all been clipped and layered then knotted together. I tied them to the card and then topped the embellishment with a piece from UmWowStudio's Circa Flair set. Don't forget to leave me a comment about my card!

You are onto Carisa Zglobicki next! 

Since we're all in the Valentines SPIRIT I'd like to invite you to join me in an online Valentine's Day themed tag class! Stay tuned in the next couple of days to find out more :)

Immortality {A Tag}

REJECTED probably should have been the title of this blog post. BUT -- what can ya do? Just keep on trying :) I'm sharing a tag with you today that I had previously submitted for print to a magazine. Due to FULL FRONTAL NUDITY it has been rejected. 

It's cool.. it happens. it makes a little bit of sense. and it just gives me the opportunity to share it with you now! So here is my Immortality Among the Stars Tag -- you may sense a little bit of familiarity with this tag -- it was the inspiration for one of my pieces from the 31 days of stamping event. 

Mmm... sigh. I love this tag ♥ The base is a piece from my Lost and Found collection for 7 Dots Studio. I adore the line in all its vintage glory, and also because cutting a tag from those sheets requires very little manipulation to have a great background and or base.

I used my sewing machine to sew around the tag.. giving it a border of white and helping create a boundary. I really enjoy machine stitching on paper... two contrasting elements that work well together. I've used two stamps from Viva Las VegaStamps!. One designed by Mary Vogel Lozinak : Whimsical Tree Lady. The other by me : Film Strip. First I stamped the Film Strip on a scrap of white paper with Ranger Archival Ink... then I stamped the Whimsical Tree Lady twice.. once on the background of my tag in Ranger Archival Ink and embossed with WOW Embossing Powder, and then once on top of the film strip in Archival, making sure to mask off the reel holes of the strip.

The Tree Lady was then outlined in a Faber Castell / Design Memory Craft's Aquarelle Grip Watercolor pencil. I used a small paintbrush and some water to feather out the intensity of the pencil making a nice gradient of color around her. I trimmed out the film strip and popped it up using dimensional adhesive.

After the watercolor pencil was dry I used a PITT pen to draw circles around the girl, just adding a bit of contrast to the background while playing off the whimsy of her "hair." I also printed up a saying on some cardstock using my inkjet printer and glued it down with a UHU stick. The idea of the whole tag is that this beautiful voluptuous gal is forever immortalized in film.

And last but never least, the tag was finished off with a scatter of Star Confetti Chipboard from UmWowStudio. I left it in the natural raw kraft color to accent the vintage tones of the entire tag. I had a scrap of natural colored muslin laying on my desk that ended up being just the perfect touch to tie *pun intended* off my tag. Love when those little pieces fall together like that. 

♥♥

Bone Daddy tag - Day 5

First of all... let me thank each and every one of you who has stopped by the blog the last four days.. and more importantly thank you for the sweet votes of confidence on yesterday's project! I really really wasn't feeling it but after spending time reading each of your comments... that projects has really grown on me <3 <3

I can't believe we're already on to day 5 of the 31 days of Halloween stamping by Smeared and Smudged!... surely I thought I would have missed something by now, haha. Today I have something sans ephemera but deliciously grungy. I call him my Bone Daddy and I've put him on a tag!

The base of the tag is my Lost and Found collection for 7 Dots Studio cut with a Sizzix / Tim Holtz #8 tag die. the very first thing I did after having the tag was stamp the Skeleton Diagram from Viva Las VegaStamps! in Archival black by Ranger Ink. I don't /usually/ do my stamping first thing but I was ready to get some ink down! It also helped me move in a certain direction instead of fiddling around with an empty tag for a while.

Then I covered my tag in clear gesso. It added some tooth (or grit) to the tag and sealed my stamp below the grunginess that was about to happen on top. The ink I used IS archival... so it most likely wouldn't have gone anywhere, but I was going more for the texture of the gesso. And it never hurts to be extra careful, either :) 

Then I used some modeling paste and the Handwriting stencil from UmWowStudio to add some dimension to the tag. 

I. Love. Dimension. 

Modeling paste and stencils is a great way to achieve some depth. After I swiped the modeling paste through the stencil I had quite a bit of left over paste and I try not to add back to the original jar. It avoids contamination. So I swiped what was left over the corners and along parts of the edge of the tag. No waste AND more texture. YES PLEASE.

Then I used Liquitex glazing medium and Golden Fluid Acrylic in Burnt Umber to glaze and distress the tag. I covered the whole thing and then wiped it away with a baby wipe until I was satisfied with the results. The glazing stuck in all the little nooks and crannies as well as some of the texture from the previously applied clear gesso. Win! I added one more layer of grunginess with my homemade Instant Coffee Stain.

 

All my tag needed now was a tie for the hole. Insert Burlap twine by May Arts and we're almost finished! Just a quick border drawn between textures with a Faber Castell pen to frame the tag and bring it all together. I did go back and forth with a sentiment.. and thought a little bit about wings for the Bone Daddy, but ultimately decided against both. He looks great in his grungy home :) 

and don't please forget about the other participants on this journey. Hop around, leave comments, and be entered to win:

Terra Black Dragon Alison Julia Lyneen Kelli Maureen Sue DominoART Lost Coast Portal To Creativity

Susan Sarah Keren Lisa F Teresa Fiona Lisa H Stampendous Stamps Shell Sarah S

Airless Chambers Susan R Dream In Darkness De Stempelwinkel Leslie Rahye Kat Rebecca Lee Suzi Sara DeeDee

Witchery Tag - Day 3

Whoop! Day 3 is under the hat.

Don't know what I'm talking about? Conveniently forgot? I'm participating in the Smeared and Smudged's 31 days of Halloween blog hop. there are PRIZES to be found, prizes to be WON, and tons of Halloweeny goodness abound.

Today I am sharing with you a fun, slightly whimsical, incredibly magical Witchery Tag.

The tag base comes from my Lost and Found line with 7 Dots Studio. It's a sheet of 12x12 diecut with Sizzix/Tim Holtz's #8 Tag Die. I can get four tags out of a single 12x12 sheet, so generally cut them down when I want one and then hang onto the extras for later purposes.. like this! I recently submitted a tag to RSM where I used the same Whimsical Tree Lady Nude from Viva Las VegaStamps!. After looking over my submission I thought she'd make a great witch!

She's been stamped in Archival black ink by Ranger and embossed in ultra shiny clear powder. It creates a great resist and raised surface to color against. I applied the purple color with Faber Castell's Aquarelle watercolor pencils. I colored around her in a gradient and then applied water with a water brush. 

Delish!!!! 

Because the paper got warped after my waterbrushing, I sewed it to a nice heavy piece of Canson watercolor paper using my machine and white thread. Fixed the paper right up AND gave me a much sturdier base to work on.

That gorgeous white fleck of pattern in the background is a thick layer of gesso through an UmWowStudio stencil titled Flurries. The stencil starts condensed at the top and disperses to just a splattering of shapes the further down it gets. Perfect for falling snow or star shine! I also wanted to create a moon effect without taking anything away from the tag... so I grabbed a bit of cheesecloth and gave it a quick soak in my homemade Instant coffee stain. I bunched it up and glued it down with Gel Medium. It felt like moon shine :) To finish off my moon that's not a moon, I hand trimmed a circle from some vintage book text. 

Last but certainly not least is the sentiment. WITCHERY comes from Tim Holtz's label alphas.. perfect to spell whatever I wanted and looks great in the stark black against the rest of the tag. I'm a fan!!! Are you?? If you read through the description maybe you can answer a question for me... which of the three projects so far are you most fond of? Thanks! :) 

and don't forget about the other participants on this journey:

Terra Black Dragon Alison Julia Lyneen Kelli Maureen Sue DominoART Lost Coast Portal To Creativity

Susan Sarah Keren Lisa F Teresa Fiona Lisa H Stampendous Stamps Shell Sarah S

Airless Chambers Susan R Dream In Darkness De Stempelwinkel Leslie Rahye Kat Rebecca Lee Suzi Sara DeeDee

Final Notice - Altered Postcard

Hello hello friends old and new! :)

I have really stepped out of my comfort zone this Halloween season to be part of Smeared and Smudged's 31 days of Halloween. I do love Halloween, and I love stamping and getting inky... but forcing one finished-ready-to-show-the-world project out a day is going to be HARD for me. So naturally I signed right up! lol :) Here are all of the participating blogs :

Terra Black Dragon Alison Julia Lyneen Kelli Maureen Sue DominoART Lost Coast Portal To Creativity Susan Sarah Keren Lisa F Teresa

Fiona Lisa H Stampendous Stamps Shell Sarah S Airless Chambers Susan R Dream In Darkness De Stempelwinkel Leslie Rahye Kat Rebecca Lee Suzi Sara DeeDee

And here is my first project for the hop - a postcard!:

I am VERY happy with my first little bit for this 31 days of intense stamping and I surely hope I can keep up with the good work! The postcard is 4x6 made of canson watercolor paper. It's been treated with Liquitex basic gesso and then collaged with tons of vintage ephemera and stamped tissue paper using Golden Matte Medium. Some of my favorite ephemera includes prescription cards, atlas coordinates, sheet music and book text. 

 

After the background was dry I used a thicker grade of gesso by Blick to sort of mute the background and help the edges blend together. The background really took on a sort of warm haunted glow because I had used this really great caramel colored tissue paper that a friend gave me. I'll have to bother her for some more! Then I did a bit of stamping with two of the stamps I've designed for Viva Las VegaStamps! : The Weathered Tree and the Cemetery. Both stamped in Archival Ink by Ranger. Along the bottom of the card I extended the tree stamp with a black PITT brush by Faber Castell.

Then I reached for my handy dandy trusty never musty UmWowStudio chipboard to add a little dimension. I used the Bat Confetti from last year's release to spice up the left of the card. At first I toyed with the idea of coloring the bats black, but I'm glad I didn't. The raw color of the chipboard really plays well into the warm sort of glow (mentioned earlier) that the card has. Once I saw and realized how powerful that was ending up, I grabbed another piece of chip from UmWowStudio...

...this one from our brand spanking new release, the Man in the Moon. He layers up so deliciously and really brought the whole piece together. Just a little wet glue keeps all my chipboard in place. Then I trimmed out a black mat and punched a Martha Stewart border punch along the bottom. The card has been stapled to the mat with Tim Holtz's tiny attacher. FINAL NOTICE is the sentiment on this piece and the sticker comes from one of my newest collections for 7 Dots Studio: Lost and Found.

WHEW- what a SLEW of information. Be sure to stop by and see everyone's work. There are also PRIZES to be won! :) Leave me some love and let me know what you think <3