Monday, February 22, 2016

You Complete Me

Goodness, it's so fun when you organize your stamp room and find things you haven't used yet because they were "covered up" with other things! Like these fun Speech Bubbles dies from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.  I have had them for a long time, but put them in a place they shouldn't have been, and just rediscovered them!

I had the stenciled background done and in a "to use later" envelope, and it fit perfectly with the little CAS card I had in my head! Both the sentiment and the image are from You &Me. I stamped with Archival Black ink and colored in my cookies and shadow with Copic markers.

I plan to give this to a girlfriend whom I am meeting for supper tonight! An actual ten-minute card!

Challenges:

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Thanks a Latte!

Pink and orange are two of my favorite colors together, and I love how they turned out on this emboss resist watercolored panel. I stamped my image in VersaMark ink, and embossed with white, then watercolored with my Kuretake paints. A little washi tape and a Martha Stewart doily are my embellishments. I stamped my sentiments with VersaFine and adhered all to a panel sprayed with Raspberry Spray. This card makes me happy!

Images are from Sweet 'n Sassy's Special Blend stamp set.

Challenges:

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Bold and Big

I love this bold and big stamp from Stampin' Up! And how quick and easy to make this background using my craft mat, distress ink (Mermain Lagoon), and water! 

I dragged the ink across the mat, sprayed, and then lay my white cardstock in the wet ink. Once dry, I stamped the "just for you" with VersaMark ink and embossed with a combination of silver and black embossing powder for a kind of ombre look. It gets lighter as it goes down the page. I added the second part of the sentiment with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and then adhered everything to Kraft cardstock.

An easy card with a bold and big statement!
Challenges: 
Fab 'n' Funky -  Male Birthday 
Wonderful Wednesdays - Always Anything Goes 
WordArt Wednesdays Anything Goes 

Thursday, February 4, 2016

A Little Bible Art

A few months ago I bought a Bible for journaling. Being the daughter of a Pastor, we had many Bibles in our home growing up. We were taught never to put anything on top of a Bible or to write in it. It took me years before I could even write in pencil in a margin, or underline a verse. It seemed so wrong. But I have come to realize that legalism about a printed book is not worship -- and not how to help me remember things. I took sermon notes for years -- but couldn't relate to them once they were stored away. I needed reminders in the actual book I was reading and studying. So notes became commonplace.

I realize that many have differing views on writing in Bibles, let alone coloring, stamping, drawing, or painting. But it's not a CORE issue. It's not about the Gospel, or about what we believe about God. He is not any less my God because I have a separate Bible that I now draw and stamp and paint in. He is MORE my God because he has created me to be CREATIVE. And if art gets me into His Word more, that's a GOOD thing. It's not taking anything away from my reverence or awe or fear (and I mean that in the God-fearing way) or even my study, it is increasing my time focusing and meditating on what the Word is saying to ME. And being a visual person, it helps me to remember verses and lessons better, just as music based on scripture does.

Anyway, I felt like I needed to preface this post with that. It's certainly a departure from what you usually see here, but I am loving working in my Bible as a journal for artistic thoughts about life and how I fit in.

I told some journaling friends I would post some step photos from a project I completed this morning. So here they are!
I prepped my page with Martha Stewart's White Gesso. I wanted to prevent as much bleed through as I could, and knew I wanted to watercolor on my page. I applied it with a brush and let it dry - it was very quick. I used my heat gun as an added drying source to be sure. I stamped my verse and poppies from Sweet 'n Sassy's Precious Poppies.

Next I tested my Kuretake watercolors on each flower to see what color I might like for each one, as the thin onion skin paper changes the colors a bit. I used an acrylic block as my palette to water down the color - again for bleedthrough.


I completed each flower with a slightly different mix to see what I might like.

Finally, I added some blues for a background, and then finished off the page with some Glimmermist spray for a little sheen. I had made the matching bookmark several weeks back, and wanted a matching style for the Proverbs page. This is the end of a chapter, so no text was covered by my design.
What do you think?

Monday, February 1, 2016

I Love Roo

It's time to focus on some love notes for the next two weeks!

Today I inked up the cute kangaroo from Paper Smooches' A Little Lovin'. I am joining #thedailymarker30day challenge with @kathyrac, and decided to just color him simply! I have always been a lover of paper, and had this cute heart paper from a Ben Franklin jaunt from many months ago.
 I used Mojo Monday 433 for my sketch. I didn't want to cover up the cute hearts any more than I already had with the black panel, so I used a piece of printed vellum for one of the sketch panels.
We're waiting for about 1 foot of snow between now and tomorrow, so it looks like I may be stamping again soon! :)