"Stamping And Coloring For Fun"

Hello friends, followers, visitors and viewers.
It's a great Tuesday morning.  I'm back on schedule after having "Sunshine" (grandchild) from Saturday until Monday afternoon.   Her parents celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary without her.  She was our joy for their occasion.

I used three stamps, silver embossing powder, a die and some watercolor pencils to make my card for today.

My inspiration for the sentiment came from NationalDayCalendar.com for July 11, 2017: NATIONAL CHEER UP THE LONELY DAY
Each year on July 11, people across the United States are trying to make someone happy on National Cheer Up The Lonely Day.  If you know someone who is lonely or going through a difficult time due to health issues, financial reasons, grief due to loss or personal reasons, this was created as a day to reach out to them and try to cheer them up.  Your small act of kindness can make a big difference to them.

 This will be an entry for http://www.wordartwednesday.blogspot.com

Challenge Weeks #290-#291 - Anything Goes

I started with Neenah white cardstock for my focal layer and stamped the image of the Altenew peony scrolls with Versa Mark ink and then used Ranger silver embossing powder .  The flowers were masked before using Penny Black petal power leaf stamp.  I used TH's moss green distress ink to stamp the leaves and a black pitt pen to fill in the veins on the leaves. Orange and yellow watercolor pencils were used to color the flowers. I used  one of the Hunulu rectangle metal cutting die and silver cardstock for my frame.  The sentiment was stamped onto a piece of vellum using black archival ink and adhered to the frame.  Black and yellow cardstock was used for layering before adhering to the Neenah white card base.

Items listed from left to right: Hunulu rectangle metal cutting die; Altenew peony scrolls stamp; Penny Black petal power stamp; Ranger silver embossing powder.

Here is what "Sunshine" did on July 10, 2017. 
We didn't have time to post it on yesterday.  I told her to be sure to check out Grandma's posting for today to see her card.  
She wanted to play in my Distress oxide inks, use the emoji die and to put glitter on her card.  She had specific directions for how she wanted her card.  
I cut out the cardstock pieces for the card, the layer, the base and for the frame and  assisted her in using the die cutting machine for the emoji.  Everything else was done without my assistance.  She placed her oxide inks on a piece of Bristol smooth cardstock (the way she wanted it).   She glued the emoji on top of the colored piece. She wanted the double stick tape to use for the frame.  She placed the tape on all four sides and sprinkle glitter on top of it, using her fingers to smooth it out. She glue these pieces to the black cardstock and then to her card base.
I wanted to know what did she intend to do with her card and she told me it was a secret.  

I hope you enjoy seeing both cards today.

Come again and leave a comment.  I always love hearing from you.

Sending you a hug and LOVE,

Lois

"Using Distress Oxide Inks On Black Cardstock"

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Hello viewers, followers, visitors and friends.  Good Tuesday morning to you.  What's on your agenda for today?  If it is still raining in your neighborhood and you can't go outside to play, why not stay in and craft away.  That's what I'm planning on doing.

I was encouraged, back in early March, to purchase the Distress Oxide inks by my crafting sister who said, "they will work well with dark cardstock".  So I made a purchase.  I used some of them for a project on Tuesday, March 21, 2017, http://lilartsywoman.blogspot.com/2017/03/stenciling-distress-oxide.html.  This was when I used white cardstock and a stencil for my project.  That one turned out rather well.  I received many compliments here on this blog, Google+, scrapbook.com and Card-Making USA.

Today, I wanted to experiment with using the Distress Oxide inks with black cardstock and a stamp. 
Let me just say, I've torn up some cardstock that looked distressing to me (very unsatisfied with the results). 
The first card you see here (not the ones that went in the trash) was done this way:

• I cut a piece of black cardstock for the base 4.25 x 5.5
• I used a stamp from Penny Black's "petal party", Versa Mark ink and clear embossing powder to put an image (2) on the black cardstock
• I used I colored the top flower with worn lipstick distress oxide and the bottom flower with wilted violet distress oxide.  Both flower stems were colored with cracked pistachio distress oxide
• I sprayed some water down on a mat and mixed the left over worn lipstick with the water and splatter it over the card.  Some ended up on the flowers.
• After drying, I added three gems around the sentiment that had been stamp on black cardstock using jillibean soup "handwritten sentiments "and layered with green cardstock and a pink ribbon bow.
• The card you are looking at came out much better than the first one I did, but it is still doesn't present a WOW factor for me...the reason is, the ink went on in that pinkish color but when it dried, all I'm getting is the oxide effect or the chalky look which is a muted white and not the pretty vibrant color.  You really can't tell that I used worn lipstick and wilted violet.
• This doesn't impress me at all.  Maybe it does for you.

worn lipstick oxide for the top flower did not come out vibrant at all neither did the wilted violet at the bottom

The second card you see here (thinking it would come out better) was done this way:

• The black cardstock was cut 4.25 x 5.5
• The stamp from Penny Black's "petal party" was used with the worn lipstick, wilted violet and cracked pistachio (outline effect)
• I mixed some cracked pistachio with water and splattered it on the card.  This time I didn't let any of this mixture get on the flowers.
• After drying, I added the sentiment (jillibean soup "handwritten sentiments) which was stamped on black cardstock and layered on some pink polka dotted cardstock.
• Three gems were added around the card as well as a green bow made from Offray ribbon.
• This one looks 5% better than the first one. 
• I like the oxide inks much better on white cardstock than dark cardstock.

you can see a little more color of the worn lipstick and the wilted violet used for stamping

I even tried another color of dark cardstock to see if it would make a difference.  The only thing I can really say is, you can see a image but not unless you like that chalky look for your image on dark cardstock, then stay clear of using it.  On lighter cardstock, the distress oxide are beautiful.  (That's just my opinion).

here I used the Distress Oxide inks to stamp some flowers on a piece of Bazzill cardstock

I wanted to see if using a different darker color of cardstock would make a difference in the oxide color.  It is still chalky looking and not vibrant.  It is better on this purple than on the black cardstock.

I'm just showing and sharing my honest opinion about Oxide inks on black cardstock.  I 'm also keeping in the back of my mind that the processing of the material I received my not be 100% correct compared to what Tim Holtz was using.  Maybe this could be the reason my colors were not vibrant.

As always, "at first, if you don't succeed, try, try and keep trying until you master it".  I will try again.

Sending you a hug and LOVE,

Lois

"Embracing O.R.A.N.G.E"

Hello Visitors, Viewers, Followers and Friends.
It's good to be here, don't you agree?  I'm not necessarily talking about "here" on this blog, but here  in the presence of other people to make a difference in their lives today.
 You could embrace a child today...better still, give them a pet or take the child and the pet to the park or a walk around the neighborhood.
 If you think your time will run a little longer than necessary, pack some pretzels in a zip lock bag and take along for a snack.  While you are walking with the child and pet, see how many birds you can count before making it back home.  Just embrace this day and do something meaningful in the life of someone else.
Speaking/writing about "embracing"....I'm embracing orange today.  Not the fruit, although I had one along with breakfast this morning, but the color.  This is another one of those colors that I don't use often.  So today, I made a conscious effort to have this color as my main focus.  Truly, I didn't want to use orange paper so I decided to have the color protrude as flowers.
Who doesn't like orange flowers?  On one card I used paper flowers from Recollection and on the other card I stamped and water colored some paper to look like flowers.
Here, take a look:

 

The focal mat is a piece of Ranger watercolor paper.  It has been colored with blue (water color) and then the corner was die cut  using Sizzix mixed media die.  Behind this cut-out is a piece of blue and white polka dot paper from Colorbok specialty paper.  Using the Spellbinders Romantic Vine die, I cut out  the vine using another water colored piece and assemble it around the Recollection paper flowers.

 

The focal mat for this card is a light blue piece of Recollection cardstock that has been embossed with Sizzix Tim Holtz's Alterations brick wall folder.  The raised areas were darken by lightly dragging a black ink pad over its top.  Another piece of Ranger water colored paper was colored using blue, yellow and orange.  This was adhered to the "brick wall" piece after being matted with black Recollection cardstock.  In the areas where I had water colored the orange, I placed orange flowers (stamped and water colored from Penny Black's petal party). The flower on the top left has been double to look 3D.  The sentiment came from me & my Big ideas The Happy Planner sticker pad.

Embrace your orange which can be your new black, green, blue, purple, etc.  Do it and enjoy it!

Sending you a hug and LOVE,

Lois

"Vellum Overlay Card"

Hello Friends, Followers, Visitors and Viewers.
What a great Monday we are having after a very cold and blustery weekend.  I venture out Saturday and the wind was so fierce that I had to really brace myself while walking .  It was not so windy on Sunday but for me it was still cold (winter instead of spring).
Inspiration for cards comes from different places.  It may be something I saw on Google +, Pinterest, or other blog post.   I'm challenge when I see something that I like and I want to give it a try.  Last week I was playing around with water coloring and stamping.  Before I placed those items away, I saw where Jennifer McGuire, http://www.jennifermcguireink.com/2016/04/altenew-2.html did a post on using vellum as an overlay on a card.  I watched her video and decided to give it a try.  I didn't have the stamp she used but it didn't matter.  I did have some flower stamps in my file so I used what I had:

Since yesterday was National Siblings Day, I'm dedicating this card to all by siblings.  We know that God controls the things that happen in our lives so we will continue to let HIM rule.  With God all things are possible.  Have FAITH and BELIEVE!

 

All of the supplies are pictured below but here is a list:
I used a yellowish tint piece of vellum and  Neenah white cardstock;
Penny Black"s T for Transparent clear petal party stamp
Hampton Arts black pigment ink with Ranger super fine clear embossing powder.
Ranger Emboss it embossing clear ink with Ranger gold embossing powder
Akashiya Sai Watercolor Brush Pen (pink and green)
Stick*A*Bilities Religious Subway Art sticker...With God All Things Are Possible
three Recollection faux gems (dark blue)

This is a picture of the card when you lift up the vellum

Picture of the supplies I used.

I had fun following Jennifer's instructions.  My stamping and coloring was much better today than last week.  I like the soft look of the vellum overlay.

Thanks for viewing today.  Please come again.

Sending you a hug and LOVE.