All Geared Up!

Good Evening Girlz!

I have been having so much fun playing around with the different Inka Gold colours lately.  I now have red, gold and silver and hope to add more to my stash soon! (Hurry up and order more colours Victoria!..my enabler!)

 

 

I used the Gears die by Ranger.  First off I used the Distress Silver Paint and instead of rubbing the paint on I squeeze the bottle and dab it on so it creates a textured surface.

 

 

 

Once the paint dried..only takes a couple of minutes... I used my VersaMark pad and rubbed it on here and there and then dumped on a rough embossing powder put out by Stampendous and then sprinkled on Zing embossing powder in glitter black.

 

 

Here is a close up of the embossing...

 

 

And a photo from the side..

 

 

 

For the background I used the Gears embossing folder by Sizzix for Tim Holtz.  After embossing the black cardstock I started adding the Inka Gold colours in Silver and Gold.  It dries very quickly and then use a paper towel to buff it up so its shiney.

 

 

 

To finish it off I popped some of the gears up and it was done!

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Hugz,

Sheree

 

 

Tattered Floral Challenge - My Version

Good Evening Girlfriends!

It has been a long couple of weeks!  Everyone has been on my mind from the wild fires and flooding in Australia to the bitter cold and massive dumps of snow in Eastern Canada and the United States.  We are so lucky to be living on the West Coast of Canada!  Our winds have been hurricane force lately but the days in between storms have been beautiful!  I have been out turning the gardens bit by bit wearing a t-shirt or light sweater.. bit by bit.

My post today is inspired by a post over at the Tim Holtz Blog.  The challenge is to make flowers using the Tattered Florals die.  My first couple of tries were deep sixed into the can.  This one is really neat and I really am amazed that I came up with it!

If only things would look like they do in real life.  Photos don't do this flower justice..I think.  The other thing I am not fond of is the layout but I have always had trouble with that and, embellishing.  There should be more ribbon in there somewhere..or something!

The tag itself was first embossed around the edges with a frame stamp and Ranger Extra Fine Embossing Powder in gold.  Prior to heating it I added some hot pink glitter that I had and really like the effect.  You can hopefully see it better in the close up above.  After embossing I used some Inka Gold red and streaked it all over using a bit of water mixed in.  Inka Gold gold was streaked on top of the red and then polished with a paper towel when dry.

You can see a bit more from this side view.  To make all of the layers I mixed up different textures.  Some layers were cut from cotton quilt batting (I used scraps from one that I just finished) which were stamped with Distress Ink Gathered Twigs and then sprayed with gold Glimmer Mist.  Some were cut from webbed gift wrap from the dollar store.  The gold tinsel threads fall out fairly easy though.  Another set of layers were cut from Vellum.  Half of the flowers were embossed with Swiss Dots and the others were stamped with Distress Gathered Twigs and then light layers of Inka Gold, gold and then red.  This last type were then scrunched up for texture and volume.  Worked like a charm!

 

The butterfly is a Memory Box die.  The solid die cut was coloured with Distress Raspberry and Wild Honey.  I then heat embossed with chunky clear embossing powder.  The intricate die cut was cut from paper that I layered with Inka Gold gold and red.

 

The tag ribbon was coloured using the Inka Gold.  It worked really well!

 

 

Here is a photo of the mess present wrap from the dollar store.  I have no idea whose brilliant idea it was to call this gift wrap when it basically falls apart when you cut it.  You should have seen the mess I created when cutting it with the Tattered Floral die!

 

So, there you have it!  I am entering this over at the Tim Holtz blog and will see what happens.  There is a gift pack up for grabs and I hope I win!

I have posted one more for the Tattered Challenge and you can see it here!

 I heard that you can post two in the challenge but it won't let me so...

 

Thanks for looking and I hope you all have a wonderful week!

 

Hugz,

Sheree

12 Tags of 2013 - February

Evening Girlz!

Well.. I am going to try and do the 12 tags of 2013 and play along with Tim Holtz!  I dont have all the stamps and embossing folders or Wasabi Tape (sp?) but am giving improvisation my best shot!

I used Distress Worn Lipstick and Distress Festive Berries to distress the tag.  Between each addition of colour I flicked water to create water marks.  These were accented with each layer of colour.  The edges were distressed and used Distress Black Soot on the edges.

For the bottom of the tag I cut a piece of black cardstock and used Inka Gold in Red for the first streaked layer.  After buffing it with a paper towel I then added a streaked layer of Inka Gold and buffed it again with a paper towel.  The last part was to emboss it with the Valentine Cuttlebug folder and then use Distress Gathered Twigs on the raised parts.  That idea was originally from The Wandering Buckeye

The strip at the top of the tag was done the same as above minus the embossing.  Hearts were cut with the Cricut and distressed with Festive Berries and Vintage Photo.  The same was done with the letter U at the bottom.  The Love tag was distressed with Vintage Photo and popped up.

The vintage photo was one I found on the net a very long time ago.  I resized it to fit and printed.  A Fiskars deckled scissor was used to cut it out.  The edges were distressed with Vintage Photo.  To make the photo look like one I used VersaMark dragged over the top and then Ranger Clear Embossing Powder was thickly layered and heated from the underside.

I had some gold thread to wrap around the tag instead of bakers twine which I didnt have.  A heart cut with the Cricut and embossed was then stuck over the gold thread.  Raffia and ribbon were put through the tag hole.

And.. never forget to finish the back of the tag!  I used Wild Honey and then Vintage Photo on the edges.

So....  here it is!!

 

 

Here is a closeup of the clear embossing on the photo..

This sort of shows how the Inka Gold and Inka Gold Red look on the black cardstock

Thanks for looking!  Have a wonderful week!

Hugz,
Sheree

Alcohol Inks Done Different

 

Victoria inspired me to bring out the alcohol inks the other day!  I used Meadow, Citrus, Lemonade, and Terra Cotta along with pressurized air for my computer.

 

Once I finished blowing the inks around I used the blending solution and put a drop in the middle of each colour.

 

There was still too much white glossy paper showing so I took a leap of faith and went around the edges with Distress Wild Honey.  The edges turned out great so I went even further to colour in all white areas.  I kind of like how it turned out!

 

The butterfly stamp is by Penny Black and one of my favourites.  It was stamped in Archival Black.  Once the ink was dry I used Lime Green Stickles to colour in some of the areas and the body. 

 

Here is a closer look of the Stickles..

 

 

Thanks for looking!

Hugz,
Sheree

Twelve Tags Of 2013 - #1

Good Evening Girlz!

I went to the Tim Holtz blog at the beginning of January and have now put mine together from memory.  I have a feeling it isn't even close to Tim's but.. a valiant effort!  I will find out for sure when I check his after posting mine!

For my tag I had to improvise quite a bit.  The sentiment is one that I picked out for the recipient of the tag.  He is a friend of my son who has his degree and is now venturing into politics.  I hope he likes it!

The gears were painted with silver paint and then once dry, rubbed with a VersaMark pad and sprinkled with Stampendous Aged Taupe Embossing Enamel and sprinkled with Zing Black glossy embossing powder. 

The film strip that Tim used wasn't available here so I used a ticket die and acrylic from a Spellbinder package.  I rubbed THoltz silver paint dauber and rubbed it in with my finger... and removed some as well.  This gave it a cloudy effect.

Tim used a pointed finger stamp which I didn't have so I cut one out with my Cricut using the Going Places cartridge.

The tag itself was distressed and then I stamped the Hero Arts Watch Gears stamp using Vintage Photo.  I quickly poured clear embossing powder over it all which gave it a nice glossy finish.

The strip with the sentiment was first stamped with Hero Arts Map of Americas using Distress Frayed Burlap.  The edges were distressed and then I used Vintage Photo on the edges.

My ribbon was first stamped with Archival Black, dried and then rubbed in Distress Honey.  It didn't turn out as I had hoped but... you live and learn!

Here are some closer views so you can see what I have been talking about!

The recipe is...
Stamps - Hero Arts Clock Gears and Map Of Americas
Inks - Distress Iced Spruce, Wild Honey, Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs
          VersaMark
Embossing Powders - Ranger Super Fine Clear, Stampendous Aged Taupe Enamel, Zing
Dies - Tim Holtz Gears
Cricut - Going Places Cartridge
Paper - Recollections, Staples 110 lb.
Seam Binding

Thanks for looking!

Hugz,
Sheree

First Grandbaby Has Arrived!

Evening Girlz!

Just a quick post tonight.  Terrys son and wife had a baby girl this morning.. Livia River.  Not sure where the middle name River came from but I will get used to it!  She has ten fingers and ten toes so that means she is perfect!

I made this card last night while they were with the midwife at the hospital.  I wanted something to put a bit of money for take out food one nigfht when she is too tired to cook.  Up here, you are sent home within hours of having the baby if there are no complications.  Go figure.

I used the Cricut for most of the card..

 

This is the inside..

 



The recipe is..

Sentiments - Stamping Bella, Stampin Up
Cricut - George and Newborn
Papers - Recollections and .. Little Yellow Bicycle - Hello Spring
Inks - Distress Walnut, VersaFine
Embossing Powder - Zing red (it ends up being purple!)
Stars - Dollarama

Thanks for looking!
Hugz,
Sheree
 

Something Different Valentine

Good Evening Girlz!

I headed to my rubber room tonight after doing some painting downstairs in the war zone.  Things should be dry enough to bring my great stuff home again!!

Back to tonight's post! 

I picked up a new embossing folder (errr... 2 actually) and decided to try this one out.  It is by Craft Concepts and called Celine.  It has hearts and on one side you can use a large circle punch or stamp, etc.  This is what I did with it and I will give you the steps below...Actually, IRL it looks like and feels like leather!  Go figure...

 

First off I cut red cardstock the size of the embossing area on the folder.  It looked pretty neat so wanted to accent the raised areas and did that with Distress Festive Berries.  The embossing looked fabulous but.. why stop there?!  lol  Yes, I brought out the clear embossing powder and lightly put that on so it stuck only where I put the Distress ink.  Looked really neat so...

 

I looked through my drawers.. the craft room kind, and saw some Antique Bronze Distress stain that I hadn't tried before so thought what the heck and lathered that over it all and immediately toweled some off.  Now it even looked neater so what the heck...add more clear embossing powder!  That was where I stopped though.  I was finally happy with the result!

 

For the circular area to the right I grabbed some dark brown cardstock and using the VersaMark pad I stamped the sentiment and birds then heat embossed them with ultra fine Ranger Gold embossing powder.  I still needed something so I used Distress Walnut to darken the edges and then... yes, Victoria, I used clear embossing powder on the distressed edges.  Mahvelous!! 

 

Here is a close up of the embossing although I couldn't get the camera to take a picture of how it really looks.  I guess the bronze areas reflected the light which made it all orange.  But, you get the idea!  Argghh.. I just noticed once again that my watermark is sporting the wrong year still!  Should be 2013!

The recipe is:

Stamp - Michaels dollar bin
Embossing folder - Craft Concepts / Celine
Paper - Recollections
Inks - VersaMark, Distress Walnut Stain, Distress Festive Berries
Ranger embossing powder - Gold and Clear

Thanks for looking!

Hugz..
Sheree

 

Stampscapes Valentine

Good Morning Girlz!

Here is an idea that I came up with while sucking all of the water out of the basement before the restoration crew got here!  Yes, while I was at the shop yesterday, the hot water tank blew.  Just wonderful.  It now seems that the wiring wasnt done right by the previous owner and that the wiring board had caught on fire as well.  I may have gotten home in time and with shutting down the power and water supply, the small fire went out!  To make a long story short, the other half of the basement that wasnt affected by the water backup last year was affected by the tank.  I am tired and want to move from this possessed house!

Okay.. On to the cards today....

These two Valentines were each done with one stamp for each.  Easy Peasy!!  I used Lakeside Cabin on one and Lakeside Cove on the other.  The Lakeside cove was not quite wide enough so I reinked the stamp and added it to the right hand side, on glossy paper.

The moon was done with a Fiskars heart punch and tacky paper.

To colour, I started with Lemonade around the moon using a Colorbox stylus.  Next, I used Distress Wild Honey around the moon, down through the middle of the scene.  Distress Worn Lipstick was tapped on from the outside edge towards the middle, working around the edges followed by Distress Festive Berries and then Distress Fired Brick.

Now that the colour was how I wanted, I carefully removed the sticky heart moon.  It was stark white so I added Adirondack Lemonade on the edges of the left side.  Now the scene looked like #&@? because the moon was still waayyy too light.  I had nothing to lose so took my VersaMark pad and dragged it across the scene from top to bottom and then covered it with clear embossing powder. (Yes Victoria...I LOVE clear embossing powder!  lol)  The scene was actually dull and bland but the embossing made the colours brighter and a lot richer as well.  I really like how the moon turned out because of this!  The VersaMark dragged some of the colour over the moon and created a slight streaking effect!

Heat embossing looks really neat on glossy paper!  Beware.. keep the heat gun moving because it can look like you are going to start burning it.  This is the result!....

 When putting the layers together I kept the layout simple so your eye will focus on the Valentine moon.  Being that this isnt frilly, it could work wonderfully for a guy card!

Here is the recipe...

Stamps
Stampcapes Lakeside Cabin, Lakeside Cove

Inks
Memento Black
Adirondack Lemonade
Distress Wild Honey, Worn Lipstick, Festive Berries, Fired Brick
VersaMark

Paper
Staples 110 lb, Recollections, Glossy

Brad - ?

Embossing Powder
Ranger Clear

Thanks for looking!

Hugz..
Sheree
 

Oh Valentine!

Good Evening Girlz!

I know.. We just entered into a new year and I am talking Valentines!  (Speaking of new year.. I just noticed my watermark still says 2012..oops!!)  The one I am posting tonight was fun to make.  If you want me to do a picture tutorial of the glossy parts just leave a comment below.  I have been playing around with distressing and this idea popped into my head so I headed off to the rubber room to  play with paper, ink and loads of embossing powder!!

 I started by cutting out the hearts using my Cricut and the Sweetheart cartridge.  The main white hearts were set at 5 1/2 inches.  Two were cut using the main scallop shape and two using the shadow option.  I embossed one scallop with Swiss dots and left the other hearts plain.  Using tape, join one scallop to each of the shadow cut hearts. 

 

The hearts were joined together by scoring the back hearts at approximately 1/2 inch.  Tape the back to the front and now start to decorate!

 

For the front I cut the  same heart using the shadow option at 3 1/2 inches.  I cant exactly remember if it was that or 3 3/4 inches.  Eeghad! 

 

I distressed the larger coloured heart using Distress inks and embossing powder.  Before embossing I used the Hero Arts music backgrund stamp and Walnut Stain ink for fun. 

 

The heart lock is also from the Sweetheart cartridge.  I cut that at 2 1/2 inches and distressed the red heart layer and embossed the heck out of it as well.  It is hard to show how dimensional everything looks in photos so trust me when I say everything really does look better in real life!!

 

 

I punched two holes to feed the black ribbon through.  The skeleton key on the inside was cut from a Tim Holtz die and distressed to look like wrought iron.

 

 

 

The sentiment inside was done on the computer and cut out.

 

 

There you have it!

 

Hereès the recipe...

 

Stamps - Hero Arts music background

Inks - Distress Walnut Stain, Fired Brick, Worn Lipstick, Wild Honey, Festive Brrries

Ranger clear embossing powder

Cricut - Sweethearts

Cuttlebug

Ribbon - Unknown from stash

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Hugz..

Sheree

 

Distressed Masculine Birthday Card

I did this quickly for my sons birthday last weekend.  I was so engrossed with getting everything ready for he dinner that I forgot the card..oops!  So, I pulled out the Tim Holtz Gears die and cut them out on grey Stampin Up! cardstock.  The gears were distressed with Walnut, Gathered Twigs and Black Soot.  I swiped my VersaMark pad over the gears and piled on the clear embossing powder.  The last thing was to sprinkle some Zing black embossing powder heavy in some spots and then heavy in others.  Here are a couple of close ups so you can see what I have done...

I think the gears turned out pretty neat!

You can see how I popped the smaller one up along with the one below.

The background is a Cuttle Bug folder and a dull silver paper.  After I embossed it I dabbed a bit of black VersaFine ink onto a paper towel and lightly went over th embossing to make it look  bit aged...like a worn toolbox!  I find that this ink dries a bit quicker if you want to do something else with the paper.

There you go!

Thanks for looking!  I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Holiday!

Hugz,

Sheree

Distressed Cricut Tags

Evening Chicks!

When I use the Memory Box dies and others to do different projects, some of my wonderful friends dont have the dies but like to use the Cricut.  Soooo.. I pulled out the Christmas Cheer cart and found kewl images that resemble Tim Holtz ones.   Ooops, the fence is a die cut but the trees aren't!  I will post another one using the snowman from the same cart in a day or two.

My tags are nowhere near the super kewl level that Tim's are but, I am trying!  It is hard to tell but the trees are embossed with the CBug and lots of clear embossing powder dumped on after!

The recipe is:

Tags - From our shop
Trees - Cricut Christmas Cheer cart
Snowflakes - WalMart pack of 20 for super cheap!
Fence - Memory Box die
Ribbon - Not sure - My stash
Distress Inks - Gathered Twigs, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint, Evergreen Bough, Forest Moss
Perfect Pearls Spray - Copper
Ribbon - Stash
Embossing Powder - Clear...Lots of it!

Thanks for looking!

Huggzz...
Sheree
p.s.  I will be back playing with Stampscapes again after the holidays.  I will be able to wrap my head around them when things slow down a bit!

Autumn Is My Favourite!

I designed this card a little bit ago and liked it so much that I couldn't give it away haha!  I used Distress Inks for the background and then stamped the leaves and added Perfect Pearls.  It is hard to see but the layer is actually a high gloss gold cardstock I bought at Crafty Capers in Nanaimo.  Victoria is such an enabler!

This is a quick but very rich looking (in real life) card.  And yes, I made more so that I couldn't keep my favourite one!

Thanks for looking!

Huggzzz...
Sheree

Distress Christmas Tags

Evening Chicks!

I see that Blogger is letting me post again!  Woo Hoo!  Thank you to all of my friends who checked in to see if I was still alive and prayers that I get better.  I didnt, and never will get better but the larger dose of daily drugs is making it a bit more bearable.

Okay... now to the tags! 

I purchased the Tim Holtz pointsettia die last week and pulled it out the other night after my brain was wanting to do some experimenting.  The pieces were punched out of cream cardstock and everything was gone over with Distress inks.  I have the recipe below.

Here is a closer view of the leaves...

Here is the recipe!

Tim Holtz Dies - Flourish and Pointsettia
Background stamp - Hero Arts Christmas music (Also used on the leaves)
Inks - Distress Iced Spruce, Festive Berries, Fired Brick, Evergreen Bough, Honey, Gathered Twigs
Liquid Pearls - Ruby Red, Buttercup
Embossing Powders - Ranger Clear and Silver
Ribbon
Snowflake - WalMart - $2.99 pack of 20 in the ornament section

Thanks for looking!

Huggzzz...
Sheree

Craft A Scene - March - Moonlight

Good Morning Chicks!

My mojo is slowly coming back and I finally had the mindset to work on another Stampscapes scene for the Craft A Scene Blog Challenge for March which is moonlight.

This scene was very easy to accomplish.  I started with four Stampscape stamps (listed below) and then decided to do a monochromatic scene.  It turned out pretty kewl ... I think!  Also, I used a 5X7 size for the card.

To colour the scene I started with a Tim Holtz blending tool with the foam.  Using Memento London Fog I started colouring lightly from the edge moving inward.  It probably took abour five passes around the whole card to get the look I wanted.  Then, using Distress Ink called Black Soot I used the blending tool and once again worked the ink lightly from the outside edge inward until it was dark enough.

I decided that the scene needed a tiny bit of something to add interest so picked up my Colorbox Stylus that had Adirondack Lemonade on the foam pad and without reinking it I tapped a bit of colour into the moon.  Here is a closer look at the photo so you can see what I've done!

Once I mounted the scene it was easy to see that it would look great mounted black on white.  A little bit of scoring around the outside edge and it was done!  After I finished the card I was thinking that a funny sentiment for the inside, that would go with the outside would be... Congratulations on your children moving out!  haha!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,
Sheree

Stamps:  Stampscape

048E - Lakeside Cove
267E - Pines With Rocks
105E - Cloud With Moon
196F - Pine Tree
Sentiment - Stampscapes - Sentiment Sheet #7

Inks:  Memento London Fog
         Distress - Black Soot
         Adirondack Lemonade Yellow

Paper:  Recollections & Staples 110 lb. white

Thanks for looking!

Challenges:
CAS-ual Fridays - Use a pastel and black
Art Impressions Stamps - Monochromatic

Stampscapes - Moonlight Tutorial

Good Morning Chicks!

I'm going to walk you through my moonlight scene for the March challenge over at Craft A Scene  I hope you'll be able to follow what I've done in the photos because the lighting isn't the best at home.


Step 1  -  Build the scene

I started by using the Country Stream stamp with Archival Black ink and Hero Arts clear embossing powder.  I find that Hero Arts is nice and fine so works well on detailed images.

Using tacky paper that I bought on a roll from Crafty Capers in Nanaimo I punched out a small 1" circle and stuck it down for the moon.  You will notice that I only did that on one card.

Let the image cool after embossing and then tap in some Lemonade with a ColorBox stylus or sponge tool of your choice.  I have also found that embossing the stamped images can create a kind of frosty effect which you will see in some of final photos.
 

Step 2 - Second Layer of Colour

Sometimes the moon will look white and sometimes it will have a yellow tone.  On this scene it will be yellow.  Due to dye inks fading out I used cantalope on the outer edges to intensify the colour.  I know.. you're thinking that I've got a loose brick upstairs and it's waaay too bright!  Dye inks fade over night so don't worry about it being darker.

Step 3 - Third Layer of Colour

Now we'll add the lightest blue called Aqua around the areas in yellow.  Why?  Well, when I look at the sky, the yellow fades to blue/black.  We'll be colouring over most of it anyway.  I like to add it now because there's no turning back once the darker shades are blended in.

Step 4 - Fourth Layer of Colour

Now doesn't this look horrendous???!!  After I added Stonewashed to the scene I realized that it's time to change now or forever hold my peace!  Never worry that you've ruined it!  Most can be saved by either leaving it in bright sunlight to fade the colour or, add something darker to cover it up!  One nice thing is that we will be going darker and darker so it will be hidden anyway.

Step 5 - Fifth Layer of Colour

This is actually a step for two colours!!  I just noticed that I didn't take a photo prior to adding Pitch Black!!
  
Before adding the black, use Adirondack Stream with the stylus and tap it from the outer edges in.  Don't worry about it looking so dark because it will lighten up beautifully!

Now you can start adding the black!  Oooops!

Are you still with me on this long process??  Now the fun begins!  This time I'm adding Pitch Black which is going to tone down the brights and make it more rich looking...to me anyways!  Tap it on from the outside in.  Be patient and things will come together!

Here is a closer view.  Still kind of looks like @%*# but you never judge a painting before it's done.

Step 6 - Add tree limbs to disguise any boo boo's or as a fill in

When you're finished the colouring, peel the tape off of the moon.  It will look stark white and unrealistic so... grab Lemonade (from the first photo) and tap a bit in around all of the edges.  Next, tap in some Cantaloupe on the left half.  This will give it more dimension!

Next I stamped the oak limb stamp and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I will emboss the stamped images at times to give it a bit more dimension and texture.  You can kind of see that in these photos for once!

Step 7 - Add Highlights

I added highlights with my white paint pen.  Love that thing!  Take care not to overdo it.  Then again, as the dye inks fade a bit, the white highlights blend in a lot more.

And now, here are the scenes mounted.  They look fabulous IRL.  I used Bo Bunny paper which looks stunning and rich.  Prior to mounting I did a wee bit of distressing with Black Soot along the edges.  My camera was not kind once again....  The second photo is actually darker than it shows.

 

The recipe is....

Stamps:  

Stampscapes - Nature Sheet 1 - Country Stream

Stampscapes - 203G - Oak Branch

Stampin' Up! - Sentiment

Inks..

Adirondack - Lemonade, Aqua, Stonewashed, Stream, Pitch Black

Memento - Cantaloupe

Archival Black

Distress Black Soot

Clear Embossing Powder

Hero Arts White Embossing Powder (Sentiment)

White paint pen

Paper:  BoBunny, Recollections, Staples White

 There you have it!  Have fun creating your own moonlight scene!

Hugs,

Sheree

Challenge Entries For...

Birthday Sundaes - Must have birthday sentiment