Today was gray, dull, dark, rainy and depressing here in Upstate New York!  When I saw this Penny Black snowman card made by Birgit Egbloom awhile ago, I absolutely fell in love with her exclusive use of grey and promptly ordered the snowman stamp and berry bevy branches!
​
Here's her card that I fell in love with:

Here's my version:

We made this card at the Camden Club last Wednesday.  I'll be bringing Snowy to our Paper Arts Club meeting on the 18th!  My little snowman is painted with Zig Brush Pens, but any old water color medium will work.  We'll be using a mask for the snow hill and the snowman also.  Sentiment is by Stampendous and was stamped with Versafine Onyx Black.

This is a great card to replicate for your Christmas card list.  He's adorable painted in any color.  Try all pink, all blue, all purple or any color you can think of!

My dark and depressing day is just a little brighter looking at this happy, cheerful and sweet little card!

Thanks for stopping by!

LYN

​

I was asked to create a gratitude card recently and decided to give a really cool Penny Black Hidden Lane #40-416 stamp a try.  I played with this stamp once before with disastrous results.  Because I'm currently heavy in my water coloring phase, I gave this image another go.

Here's the result:

The water color panel was first spritzed with a mix of water and instant coffee and allowed to dry.  Next, I used my Misti to perfectly align the stamp over the watercolor paper.  The image was colored with Distress cubes, which were easier to use while adding color onto areas of the image, and then spritzed with water.  

​I kept the colors fairly simple applying color from light to dark:

Pine Tree:  Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn
Grass Area:  Peeled Paint
Fence:  Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain
Foliage Tree:  Peeled Paint, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Seedless Preserves
​

Today I've been invited back to play along with my teamies at Stampendous!  Here's a multi-dimensional card that is pictured in the July 2015 catalog in the Dreamweaver Stencil section.  

I loved the process of creating this card!  It began by creating background papers first and cutting up sections for the card panel and stenciled maple leaves.

Be sure to click the link for detailed 'how to' instructions on the Stampendous Blog!

Halloween Hauntings is my Dreamweaver Thursday card today!  I've used two stencils and created a shaker window.  The creepy spider is actually pasted onto acetate with glossy black paste and black crushed glass glitter was sprinkled onto the wet paste.  It looks like a tarantula, doesn't it???

Dreamweaver stash drawer to the rescue for my spider background paper!  The spider web stencil was pasted with Metallic Silver paste and set aside to dry.

I cut a piece of acetate 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 and pasted the spider in position near the center of the web.  While wet, I sprinkled black crushed glass glitter into the paste and set it aside to dry.  This was exactly the textural look I was going for in creating a creepy spider.

To create the shaker window, the layers from top to bottom were as follows:  The black frame, acetate, craft foam cut in a frame to match the size of the black frame, fragments and finally, the spider web panel.

Meanwhile, I created a Core'dinations frame with Spellbinder Celebra'tions rectangles and distressed the inside edge with a distressing tool.  The reverse side of the paper was used for the sentiment that was stamped in Versamark ink and detail black embossing powder.  I have some really cool quilling tools and used the smallest one to create the scrolled ends.  I created a little bendy curve to the sentiment when affixed to each side of the frame with foam mounting squares.  The bat was stamped with Versamark ink and detail black embossing powder and then fussy cut and mounted above the center of the sentiment strip.  Creepy eyes were created with a Uniball white pen.

​I absolutely love this time of year here in Upstate New York!  I live in the country and, though the terrain is pretty flat, I love watching the trees change colors, the crisp night air, getting out my fleece, and maybe even turning the fireplace on!  It's really all about the colors, the mums and the pumpkins!

​Here's today's pumpkin card:

​My card was first inspired by Fran Seiford's coffee spritz video.  I was so enamored by this simple recipe, I brought it to my Paper Arts Club this past Wednesday and everyone loved it, especially the lovely aroma of coffee as they spritzed their papers.  Mind you, I have done the entire vintage/aging paper thing with walnut crystals and baking the paper.  Honestly, Fran's method is absolutely better and takes no time at all!!!!

Once the coffee spritz was completely dry on Stampendous Mixed Media White Paper, I pasted it with the Dreamweaver LL515 Pumpkins in Metallic Gold.  After removing the tape and stencil, I sprinkled Dreamweaver FX mica powders randomly over the pasted image.  Using a Milwaukee heat tool, I heated the surface of the pasted image until it bubbled and then quickly moved to another area of the image.  This technique is called Molten Magic and it is quite magical.  I allowed it to cool and then used a Swiffer cloth to wipe away any stray mica powders.

Layering the card elements came next.  I went into my Dreamweaver stash drawer and found the perfect fall background paper to layer behind the pumpkins.  TIP:  Creating seasonal backgrounds in quantity comes in handy at times like this!  The next two layers of card stock (A Muse) coordinated beautifully with the pumpkins.  I did happen to have a Spellbinders Celebra'tions Pierced Rectangles die templates by Richard Garay that worked great for my two stitched layers and my two diecut layers.  Ribbon (May Arts) was added around one of the layers 'cuz I just love what ribbon can do to a card!!

All that was left was to add a sentiment!  I didn't want to interfere with the pumpkins, so a small punched tag (McGill) and sentiment seemed to work in the upper right corner.  I partially stenciled the Dreamweaver Four Seasons Stencil word FALL with Stampendous/Dreamweaver Copper Metallic Paste and a Palette Knife onto my stash background paper. 

Hope you enjoyed my card today!  I'd love your comment before hopping to the next designer's blog.  Thanks for stopping by!  I wanna go bake an apple pie now!

Stampendous Stamps

Laura Drahozal

Lyn Bernatovich

Pam Hornschu

Louise Healy

Pam Bray

Lea Fritts



Disclaimer:  I'm so happy to be a Stampendous Design Team Member and to help promote their wonderful products.  They generously supply us with many free goodies like the Dreamweaver Stencils, May Arts Ribbon and Spellbinders die template I'm using today.

Can you believe this is one of those 'naked' frames from a craft store?  I followed every step of Andy Skinner's Easy Rust Techniques Part 2 video and am seriously happy with the results!  The frame measures 9-1/2 x 7-3/4 inches.  I had to trim down the tree insert just a hair in order for it to fit properly.  Now it's your turn to try creating rust!!!

The frame was first prepped by sanding it and then painting it with gesso.  Media Paynes Grey mixed with Media Tinting Base were painted next. This photo shows half of the frame stamped with the Media Carbon Black and the Industrial stamp.   Once that layer was totally dry, the other half shows the added color of the Quinocidone Gold.  Quite the difference, huh?  But, you're getting that rusty feeling, right?

This photo shows the frame after it has been painted with the Media Ultra Matte Varnish, a crucial final step toward the goal of creating rust!

P.S.  My husband is a car guy and we watch 'a lot' of car shows.  A favorite style of mine is the old natural rusty-bucket that is left in its original condition and then clear coated to preserve the rust!  Crazy huh?  But I love it!  My husband is not on board with my 'artistic' preferences.

Hope you enjoyed my project today!  I'd love your comment before hopping to the next designer's blog.  Thanks for stopping by!

Stampendous Blog

Lyn Bernatovich

Pam Bray

Kristine Reynolds

Lea Fritts

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Wendy Price

Disclaimer:  I'm so happy to be a Stampendous Design Team Member and to help promote their wonderful products.  They generously supply us with many free goodies like the Andy Skinner stamps and DecoArt acrylics I'm using today.

Welcome to another day of feeling distressed!  Making a project look old and worn using Stampendous Cling Rubber Stamps designed by DecoArt‘s Executive Creative Consultant, Andy Skinner is going to be all kinds of fun!  My inspiration came from Andy Skinner's 3-part video series on creating rust:  Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3!  See all the prize details on the Stampendous Blog.

Here's my project today:

Speaking of parts, this is a two-part project, so be sure to stop by on Friday to see the rest of it!  I was inspired by Andy's rust techniques and used two of them today.  I also used his Alcohol and Acrylic Layering technique for the trees.  They almost look like they're cut from wood, don't they?  My result was slightly different than his, but I loved playing with drips of alcohol into a color wash of acrylic paint!  Finally, I used his Shabby Patina Effect that inspired my background.

Since it is Dreamweaver Thursday, you'll see my patina background used the Quatrefoil stencil, but any Dreamweaver stencil would work just fine.  The watercolor paper was dry embossed first and then the shabby patina painted layers were added.

The trees were a portion of the Dreamweaver Tree Line cutting die.  They are mounted on a piece of chipboard that was rusted using Andy's Part 2 technique.  You'll see more of this technique in tomorrow's project.

The trees were affixed to the patina background and Stampendous Spoonful of Rust and Spoonful of Gold were sprinkled on one corner and heated from underneath until it melted.  Then the other corner was completed in the same manner.

Tombow products are my go-to art medium and I'm thrilled we are collaborating with them!  They generously sent us their Recycled Colored Pencils and I'm over the moon with the creaminess and beautiful color of this product!

For today's card, however, I went back to my favorite Tombow product, Dual Brush Tip Markers because I had an idea stuck in my head for this collaboration and I just had to see it through!

There are yummy prizes involved!  Read all the details on the Stampendous blog HERE.  Leaving a comment on each designer's blog (including the pre-Tombow posts), liking Stampendous and Tombow on Facebook and follow @tombowusa, @stampendous on Instagram and Twitter, gets you into the drawing!  Woo hoo!

Okay, ready for my card?

I'm so excited about this Tombow colored card because it was born of an idea and one of those "I wonder if" creative moments.  It began by laying the Fall Borders stencil onto watercolor paper and 'painting' through the stencil with a paint brush and Tombow markers scribbled onto palette paper.  The paint brush was wet, but not loaded with water, and color was picked up with the brush from the scribbled marker on the palette paper.  Less water is better than too much for this process as you want to avoid seepage underneath the stencil.  I had a wadded up paper towel handy just in case I saw too much water and blotted away the excess.

Lots of layers of color were added as I painted the border, but basically, I chose one color at a time and painted all the leaves with one color.  Then I went back with a second color over all the leaves until I eventually ended up with a lovely variety of fall foliage colors!  Once the painted leaves were thoroughly dry, I pasted Translucent paste over the stencil to add some visual dimension.  

This is the stencil laying over the watercolor paper and how it looked while I was painting.

Here's the result with the stencil removed!  There is virtually no seepage or bleeding!  The next step was to lay the stencil back over the colored image, paste it with translucent paste, and then allow it to dry.  I'm making assumptions you already know how to paste emboss with Dreamweaver Stencils!

Now that I the border was colored and pasted, it was ready for the background using a resist coloring method.  Knowing that I had pretty much one shot at getting the background color right, I played a bit with my Tombow markers separately by pressing panels of watercolor paper into various color combinations.  I decided that the lighter brown tones would work the best.  After scribbling 2-3 Tombow markers onto palette paper, I generously spritzed the scribbles with water and then pressed my watercolor panel into the watery puddles!  Voila!  TIP:  Use a paint brush to spread color around any missed nooks and crannies as in between the leaves.

I allowed the paper to air dry and then pasted the Dreamweaver Autumn word stencil with Metallic Gold paste to complete the card front.  I loved the result!  The finished card front was hand torn on the right side and mounted to the card base.  May Arts ribbon was tied in a bow as a finishing touch.

One more close-up photo of the dimension on the leaf border and gold metallic shine of the Autumn stencil.

Hope you enjoyed my card today!  I'd love your comment before hopping to the next designer's blog.  Thanks for stopping by!

Stampendous Blog

Pam Bray

Lyn Bernatovich (That's me!)

Jennifer Priest

Janelle Stollfus

Pam Hornschu

Daniella Hayes

Alison Heikkila

Wendy Price

Tombow Blog


Disclaimer:  I'm so happy to be a Stampendous Design Team Member and to help promote their wonderful products.  They generously supply us with many free goodies like the Dreamweaver Stencils, May Arts Ribbon and Tombow Markers I'm using today.

Tombow products are my go-to art medium and I'm thrilled we are collaborating with them for the next three days!  They generously sent us their Recycled Colored Pencils and I'm over the moon with the creaminess and beautiful color of this product!

There are yummy prizes involved!  Read all the details on the Stampendous blog HERE.  Leaving a comment on each designer's blog (including the pre-Tombow posts), liking Stampendous and Tombow on Facebook and follow @tombowusa, @stampendous on Instagram and Twitter, gets you into the drawing!  Woo hoo!

Today's card is an example of color layering on the pumpkins.  Coloring light to dark still applies but I love the dimension that coloring in layers provides.

This card was so much fun and even after diecutting the colored images, I continued the fun while putting the final pieces together.  Here's how it came together:

1.  The diecut leafless tree (leftover from an unused project) was resurrected.
2.  Two background watercolor panels were colored with Tombows scribbled onto palette paper and spritzed with water.  Each panel was pressed into the wet Tombows and set aside to dry.  
3.  The layer right behind the pumpkins was dry embossed using a Dreamweaver Quatrafoil (LX7027) stencil.  The pumpkin panel was adhered to the purple panel.  May Arts jute was tied around the two panels.
4.  Both panels were adhered to the card base with Bazzil cardstock using Tombow Multi Glue.

Hope you enjoyed my card today!  I'd love your comment before hopping to the next designer's blog.  Thanks for stopping by!  See you tomorrow!

We are really excited for the upcoming hop with Tombow on September 18 – 20th!  There's lots of Tombow mojo so plan on being inspired all week!

I absolutely love my Tombow Dual Brush Markers and use them all the time in many ways.  One of my favorite uses of them is for water coloring.  I simply scribble the brush tip onto palette paper, which becomes my paint palette.  I like using palette paper because it's large size allows me to add several colors and it's white so I get a true visual of each color.  You can use acrylic blocks with a piece of white paper underneath as a good option.

Here's my sweet little card today:

Since it's Dreamweaver Thursday, I chose a favorite stencil, Pine Trees (DWLL570).  I simply laid the stencil on water color paper and traced each tree with a pencil.  I added a sixth tree to fill in the width of the card.  The next step was to use the 'wet-on-wet' water color technique, which is to wet one tree at a time with a paint brush, then add color from the scribbled marker on the palette paper.  I love watching the color bloom and feather!  I added two other shades of greens while the tree was still wet.  Honestly, there's no right or wrong here and the trees look hand drawn, don't they?

Once my trees were painted, I added color to the tree trunks.  Before proceeding to the snow base, I made sure the paper was dry using my heat tool.  The snow was added with the same wet-on-wet technique.  That area was also dried before moving to the green hills behind the trees.  Finally, the sky was added last.

The sentiment was stamped with cocoa archival ink.  Spoonful of Pixie Dust was lightly sprinkled over the card front.  I used my handy dandy pointy straw which worked great for adding tiny amounts.  The snow was heat set from underneath.

The tree panel was mounted on craft foam and then mounted onto another section of watercolor paper as I wanted to keep it understated.

Hope you enjoyed my card today!  I'd love your comment before hopping to the next designer's blog.  Thanks for stopping by!  See you tomorrow!

Stampendous Blog

Laura Drahozal

Lyn Bernatovich

Jamie Martin

Kristine Reynolds

Louise Healy

Pam Bray

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Pam Hornschu

Tenia Nelson

Lea Fritts


Disclaimer:  I'm so happy to be a Stampendous Design Team Member and to help promote their wonderful products.  They generously supply us with many free goodies like the Dreamweaver Stencil,  Stampendous stamp set and Spoonful of Pixie Dust I'm using today.