Petula Thank You

Sorry I have not blogged for a while - my BIL passed away a week and a half ago and I have been spending all my time with my sister.

A number of family and friends have been very kind and I find myself in need of some thank you cards. Today’s card was made using the Sketch Challenge on SCS found here .

I felt this card could be very cheery - it’s for a family friend where my sister stayed for several days and we spent time in her beautiful backyard and pool.

Petula Thank You:

This card includes lots of distressing, water coloring, sewing (I just can’t resist it), faux clouds and paper piecing on Petula.

I hope you find something to make you laugh and smile today!
KAT

Additional info:
Stamps - imagines, Serendipity Stamps
Paper - White Out Collection (We R Memory Keepers), White
Ink - Black, Soft Sky, Not Quite Navy, Creamy Carmel (SU);
Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger)
Other - Prima flowers, half pearls

Art's Journey...in Tim Holtz style

The challenge over at Innovative Stamp Creations today is to use ISC stamps and a technique from Tim Holtz's blog. He started his blog with the 12 tags of Christmas last year and has continued with a technique every month. I love his style and I want to be like T!M when I grow up.

So… Play along and upload your creations to your blog and/or on line gallery for a chance to WIN a FREE ISC Stamp Sheet of your choice! Super easy, use ISC stamps only on your design, then post your link in the comments section! A random name will be chosen and announced on the blog. You have until Sunday July 27, 2008 to create/post your link on the ISC blog. Search for label ISCC8. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

For more details and a look at all the ISC Creative Architects creations go to the ISC blog .

Here is mine…

Art’s Journey….in Tim Holtz style:

I mounted the tag onto a 5x7 canvas. I think it really frames the “art”. I used 4 of Tim’s techniques so I will explain which part of the tag and link to each of his tutorials.

(1)The left portion of the background inspired from his April tutorial here . This tutorial is using emboss resist with Acrylic paints. After the paint was dry and removed from the embossed portion I stamped with a script stamp using dye ink.

(2) The tag background inspiration from his 12 Days of Christmas tag #2 here . I have never tried this and it was so easy. Warning - With these colors if I tried to go a second round they end up looking like mud!

(3) The Wings are painted plain Grungeboard inspired from 12 Days of Christmas tag #9 here . First I painted the grunge and then stamped wings, cut and curled the wings with my fingers. The “A” in art is a grunge alphabet.

(4) The Fragment square at the bottom was inspired from 12 Days of Christmas tag #12 here .

I hope you are inspired by Tim’s techniques and will play along with us!

Thanks for the visit!
KAT

Other Info:
Stamps - (all Innovative Stamp Creations) Art Phrases, ATC Elements II, Art4Frames II, Majestic Women V1, Assemblage, Scrapbook - LO- Words, Mo-na Liza Art, Textured backgrounds

Ink - Tea Dye, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint Distressed ink (Ranger); Whisper White Craft, Choc

Chip Craft, Choc Chip (SU); Timber Brown, Jet Black (Stazon), Cosmic Copper (Brilliance)
Paper - Basic Grey, Office Tag

Other - 5x7 stretched canvas; Word Key, Fragments, Plain Grungeboard, Grungeboard Alphabet (Tim Holtz idea-ology); red line, red line boosters, metallic rub on paste, white pen (inkssentials), lt. timberline acrylic paint (delta), buttermilk acrylic paint (Americana), water mister

Kristen's Bird Card

This is the card that I made to accompany Kristen’s Bird album. I used the reverse of last week’s sketch challenge on SCS.

Kristen’s Bird Card:

This card is pretty straight forward - embossing, cutting and sponging. The colors sponged are Basic Grey, Soft Sky and Black - for some reason the Soft Sky did not come through in the photo.

I added sponging to the basic grey designer paper to pull the soft sky into the background.

Thanks for the visit - come again tomorrow - It’s Thurday’s ISC Challenge.
KAT

Additional Info:
Stamps - Birds Galore (Inkadinkado); (rest SU) Garden Silhouettes, Stem Silhouettes, Short and Sweet
Paper - Scarlett’s Letter (basic grey), black, white, basic grey
Ink - VersaMark, black, basic grey, soft sky
Other - clear EB, Styled Silver Hodge Podge, Bird Charm (blue moon)

Kristen's Bird

Odd name? Well what do you name a chipboard bird made for Kristen?

I made this mini album for my niece’s birthday (she made me promise to not include her age here - so what - she’s close to 30 - but she’s not 30 yet). She loves birds - the stamping/paper crafting variety - so when I found this bird chipboard from Maya Road I and all the bird chipboard accessories knew what to make her!

This bird album is about Kristen’s Yorkie puppy with his first experience with Daisies. And as all puppies - he was wondering if they tasted good!

Kristen’s Bird Cover:
Close up of flower:

This was made using Cuttlebug two step petals and Hambly Screen Prints. The center is Vintage Glass Glitter (shards) adhered to Red line dimension Black Boosters that I purchased from Jodi at Confession of a Ribbon Addict . This stuff is fabulous and I used it in a lot a places on this album. The Glass Shards are pretty chunky and the read line really holds it into place. She is having a Sticky share right now so stop over and check it out!!!

Second Page:

Close up of Bird and Branch:
The Glass Shards on the branch was adhered using Crystal Effects. The chipboard Bird was covered with ink, stamped and then I put Crystal Effects on it to make it shiny.

Third Page:

For this page the bird was painted black, stamped and one coat of UTEE that I partially melted.

Fourth Page:

Close up Butterfly:

This is a Cuttlebug two step dye. I stamped the butterfly before it was embossed and the embossing folder had black dye ink on it to make the impression stand out.

Fifth Page:

6th Page:

Heart is also Cuttlebug. The “black” bird is a mirror… see the next picture.

Close up Mirror:

This bird mirror is from Heidi Swap - you can see my camera reflection - it was a nice, unique added touch to this page.

All the pages had paper adhered to them except for the one painted black. I used Mod Podge to do this and here is the trick to not get any air bubbles - apply a thin, even coat.

There is a lot of stamping on the background paper to pull in the blue - it’s hard to see all this detail in the pictures.

Oh - one more thing - a shout out to Maya Road! This cute Bird chipboard album was only $3.99 at my LSS - now that’s a DEAL!

I hope you enjoyed Kristen’s Bird - and Kristen - Happy Birthday again!!!

If you made it this far thanks for sticking with me and, as always - Thanks for the visit!
KAT

Additional Info:
Stamps - Garden Silhouettes, Print Pattern, Embrace Life, In Full Bloom, Essence of Love (SU); Birdi (Savior Faire); Simpy Stated (Fancy Pants); Birds Galore (Inkadinkado); Branch Songster (Stampendous); Tim Holtz Bird (Stampers Anonymous); Art4Frames II (Innovative Stamp Creations)

Paper - Grad Plaid, Text Message, Stripe Flourish (the Paper Company Studio); Scarlett’s Letter (Basic Grey), ATC Patchwork (Hambly Screen Prints)

Ink - Soft Sky, Black, Versamark, Soft Sky (Brilliance)

Other - Bird Coaster Album, Birds of a Feather Chipboard, Trees Chipboard (Maya Road); Vintage Glass Glitter (Art Institute Glitter); Bird Mirrors, Mini Chipboard (Heidi Swapp); Mod Podge Matte (Plaid); Black Diamond Crystal Stickles (Ranger); Crystal Effects (SU); misc buttons; Petal, heart, butterfly two step (Cuttlebug); Bird Charms (Blue Moon); Black, white acrylic paint (Delta); red line boosters, circles (Confessions of a Ribbon Addict)

Moo-licious Flutter

It’s time for Innovative Stamp Creations Challenge #7 ISCC7.

What’s the challenge - well - they are all the rage and they are Moo-licious! Moo cards are like Artist trading cards but measure 1 1/8" x 2 3/4" .

Play along and upload your creations to your blog and/or on line gallery for a chance to WIN a FREE Art4Frames II and Tin (just like the one below) ! Super easy, use ISC stamps only on your design, then post your link in the comments section! A random name will be chosen and announced on the blog. The deadline is Sunday July 20th. Here is a link to the ISC blog to see the other creation and for me details. We can't wait to see what you come up with, play along!

My Sample - Moo-licious Flutter:


Close Up of Tin:

You can see that I used my Crop-a-dyl to put holes in the bottom to add the beads. The pull at the top is a Diet Coke tab.

First Three Moos:

Last Two Moos:

These are really fun to play with - they are larger than an inchie and smaller than an ATC. You can use all or parts of stamps and all kinds of embellishments and techniques. On these Moos I used Polished Stone, Emboss Resist, Sponging, Water coloring, Micro beads, stamping on Vellum, stamping on acetate, Cuttlebug embossing folder, cracked glass, faux shaving cream… all of that that’s on a surface a little larger than a stick of gum!

So play along for your opportunity to win!

Thanks for the visit!
KAT

Other info:
Stamps - (all Innovative Stamp Creations) Art4Frames II, Butterflies, Artsy Trinkets
Paper - (all SU) White, Choc Chip, Soft Sky Prints, acetate, cardstock vellum
Ink - VersaMark, Choc Chip, Choc Chip Craft, soft sky, groovey guava, river rock
Other - Glass Glitter beads (Darice), Crystal effects, tin, misc beads, Irish waxed linen, pop can tab, clear EB

Birdie Playing in the Paint

I just received my first Megabilities from Betsy over at Innovative Stamp Creations . I wanted to create a card using the Long Classic Scallop and some Grungeboard.

Birdie Playing in the Paint:

The Megabilities are large enough to use as your card base this card measures 6 ¼ x 3 1/8.

Close Up:

The background is a piece of SU designer paper with Ivory paint sponged on leaving some of the paper design showing. The flower silhouette was stamped three times over the paint. I also placed paint on the brown panel to stamp the sentiment.

The bird was made using plain Grungeboard. I painted the Grungeboard ivory and stamped the bird image twice. I cut out a full image and then just the wing. I then sponged some of the background inks on to the bird. The bird was “formed” bending his butt and wing between my thumb and 1st finger.

The hinges and brackets are also Grungeboard Mini pieces. These were painted in ivory and then to give them a little something extra I stamped the image from the bird on them.
Some cuttlebug flowers, distressing and sewing completes this card.

Thanks for the visit!
KAT

Other Info:
Stamps - (all Innovative Stamp Creations) Art4Frames II, Nature Silhouettes I
Paper - (all SU) Very Vanilla, Enchante Designer Series Paper, Close to Cocoa
Ink - Close to Cocoa, Sage Shadow, Pretty in Pink
Other - Plain Grungeboard, Grungeboard Mini, Long Classic Megabilities, Light Ivory Acrylic Paint (Ceramcoat), Cuttlebug flower die, baubles

Flutter Suspension

Today’s challenge on SCS was to create a Suspension card - I’ve never created one so I thought I would give it a try. You can find the challenge here .

Flutter Suspension (watercolor):

I thought I would make the suspension part of my card from a Butterfly (and I already had the stamp set on my work table…LOL).

Flip side (sponged):

If you follow the tutorial I think this card is pretty straight forward. I embossed the butterfly and water colored one side and sponged the other. The background was created by stamping the swirl in Choc Chip and then bleach stamping the small butterfly. That was finished off with lots of sponging.

I hope your gardens are full of butterflies today! Thanks for the visit!
KAT

Other info:
Stamps - (all Innovative Stamp Creations) Butterflies, Art4Frames II
Paper - (all SU) White, River Rock, Choc Chip, Soft Sky
Ink - Choc Chip Craft, Choc Chip, River Rock, Soft Sky, Groovy Guava
Other - Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Dental Floss, Red line tape, bleach

Enamel Butterfly

Today’s card is for the Inspiration Challenge on SCS found here . I selected the Spring 2007 Special Edition plate.


Enamel Butterfly:

I was surprised when I looked at the challenge late last night…. Mackintosh Enamels is my DH cousin’s artwork/business… chuckle…you never know what a small world it is! Their work is really beautiful and they are the nicest people!


Okay - a little about the card. Most of the background was created with emboss/resist and lots of sponging. I white embossed the leave print at the bottom to represent the lighter images on the plate. The entire circle was embossed with one layer of UTEE that I partially melted - I like the sheen and the texture that this added (originally I was going to add several layers of the UTEE).


Hope you are having a fun, relaxing holiday weekend!
Thanks for the visit!
KAT


Other info:
Stamps - Baroque Motifs, Simple Sketches, Stem Silhouettes (SU); Butterflies (Innovative Stamp Creations)
Paper - Very Vanilla, Old Olive (SU)
Ink - Sage Shadow, Creamy Caramel, Old Olive, Mellow Moss, Whisper White Craft, VersaMark
Other - Clear EB, White EB, UTEE, Curvy Cutter (EK Success)

Delicate Grunge Blossom

I wanted to show you another card made with the plain Grungeboard…

Delicate Grunge Blossom:

Side View:


Take a look - a card with no sponging, distressing or sewing… :^) To make the flower I inked the Grungeboard with Sunflower Yellow and stamped it three times. The flower was cut out at different petal layers and the ends of the petals were rolled between my first finger and thump. On the center of the flower I added small dots of Sepia Accents for a little shine, color and dimension.

I hope you all have a GREAT 4th of July!!!
KAT

Other Info:
Stamps - (all Innovative Stamp Creations) Flowers and Elements
Paper - (all SU) Close to Cocoa, Barely Banana, Very Vanilla
Ink - Sunflower Yellow, Coffee Bean (Brilliance); Close to Cocoa
Other - Plain Grungeboard (idea-ology - Tim Holtz - this is available at Innovative Stamp Creations), Bella Baubles, Sepia Accents (Inkssentials), Cuttlebug folder