Two Watercolor Expiraments

Happy Memorial Day friends!!

It's a truly beautiful day here in Wisconsin (75 degrees and sunny)  and I'm being very lazy today after 2 days of fun swimming in the pool, a nite watching dirt track car racing, and hanging out with friends and having many cocktails!

Today I finallly sat down and tried playing with a new technique that was shared by the very talented Joy- one of my favorite Hero Arts Flicker freinds (her cards are really amazing) ! She has a wonderful watercolor and distress ink tutorial that you have to try!

The first card I tried I used my favorite distress inks in the colors barn door and wild honey. I selected a very pale yellow cardstock to stamp on and a rich dark brown paper to go with it. I just love these colors and can't seem to get enough of them. The flower stamp for the background  is from Stampin Up (Greenhouse Garden), the sentiment is SU as well, the frame stamp is from WaltzingMouse Stamps. I honestly forget I have this whole set of assorted frames that match the fun Nestabilites dies.....must remember to use them more-duh! Grabbed a vanilla colored Prima flower, added an orange gem to the center and the card was done. So easy and very fun to make!

The next card is a totally different color family and I got really inky fingers playing with this one!

I grabbed my Hero Arts "Long stem Blossom" stamp and started playing using the colors dusty concord and tumbled glass. I didn't use quite as much water this time as I wanted to really see the shape and design of the stamp. Grabbed another Hero Arts sentiment and embossed that after stamping. Now, on to the part where I got the really inky fingers!! I had a long piece of plain white satin ribbon and I wondered if the distress inks would dye the ribbon? I've never tried it so why not give it a go!

I layed my ribbon on my Ranger craft sheet and just pounced the 2 ink pads on the ribbon in various spots, then sprayed the whole thing with a light misting of water. I picked up the ribbon and just rubbed the ink around- getting my ribbon all good and wet, blending the colors together and soaking up more water from the craft sheet. Who knew you could dye your ribbon this way-  I didn't?

I went and laid my ribbon in the sun to dry (took about 5 minutes) and tied it to the card!

It actually looked much prettier laying flat, has kind of a tie died look to it. Lastly I added a few blue and regular colored pearl gems on a few of the flowers! I love the colors of this card - not colors that I usually play with.

Here are a few more pictures of other expiraments using different stamps that I have not made into cards yet.

(click on the picture for a larger view)

Hero Arts hydrangea on the left, another Stampin up flower on the right.

Both of these stamps are by Rubbernecker Stamps.

Not sure that I'm really liking these 2, they may go in  the trash....

I hope you all had a safe and fun holiday weekend and thanks for stopping by!

 I'm going to go hop in the pool now and play with my son- going to try blast him good with the water pistol since he always gets me before I even get to the pool!

Inky Hugs, Anne

Happy Friday......a card and a bunch of pictures

Hi there!! Sorry I haven't posted in a while- this time of year is busy for me. Lots of yard work to do and playing out in the beautiful weather with my hubby and son......not to mention working too!

Lets start with the card here I made for someone who needs some words of encouragment and cheering up. I used my Hero arts real poppy stamp- colored it with 2 markers and then spritzed it lightly with water before stamping. I had a scrap of overhead transparency laying on my desk so I thought "why not try printing a digi dragonfly on it and see how that works?". Worked great and it was soooo easy. I just added one little glue dot under the body to make it stick and folded up the wings for some dimension. Used a splattered paint BG stamp for the little ink dots, and a favorite sentiment from Stampendous. I scored the pink CS just to frame it up a bit.

Now on to some other stamping business!

2 weeks ago I went to the rubber stamp and scrapbook expo over in MN and picked up some new goodies to play with. A couple of distress inks (love these), some new rubber from Rubbernecker Stamps (love the big BG stamps and flourish), and some cardstock and an assorted paper pack, lots of envelopes for cheap, one Sizzix embossing folder (forgot to snap a pic of that), and a big old 8 oz. jar of Ranger clear embossing powder...since I'm obsessed with embossing everything lately!

 

The show was super busy and it was so incredibly crowded that I really didn't stay long (I don't like massive crowds of people- gets on my nerves). I got what I was looking for and hit the road!! I was a bit disappointed that many vendors from the last show were not there this year.......so sad as I was really hoping to watch some more fun demo's and get some more pictures.

Now on to some pic's I've snapped in and around my  property this last week. I live out in the wild woods on 7.5 acres and there is so much wildlife here it's crazy.  We have a mother fox and 3 kits currently living down at the end of the driveway in the drainage pipe (see my video of the babies on my last post), birds of every kind that are singing all day long, and the usual deer, turkeys, raccoons, and even some black bears on occassion.

We also have tons of frogs and toads around here too and we love them. My son and I go "hunt" for them on a regular basis to see what we can find. Here is one I spied hiding under the propane tank cover- isn't he cute? I love the piece of tree fluff/dandelion fluff stuck on his face!!

On Monday this gigantic snapping turtle came wandering through the front yard......maybe on her way to go lay eggs somewhere? It was BIG and scary- like 12 inches across- I steered clear of her other than to snap a few pic's. Those thing can bite your finger right off- EEEEK!

The last picture here is some of my favorite wild geraniums that are growing all over the woods here. I'm not kidding- there is a purple blanket of blooms everywhere------- I just LOVE it!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all enjoy the long Memorial day weekend!!

We are getting our pool up and ready to go for the summer and having some friends over this weekend for some dinner- drinks, and lots of fun! I'll probably hunt for toads and frogs and dragonflies with my son Joe, maybe we will even find the resident giant toad we call "Brutus" that lives in the pole barn- we haven't seen him yet this year!

Anne

Embellish Color Challenge and a short video!

I thought I would try a challenge over at Embellish magazine for the first time! Their requirements are to use the colors black, green, kraft, and to include at least one butterfly.

So I got out my Basic Grey green paper and thought I would also print a digi Hero Arts butterfly on green paper as well. It's hard to see but I lightly stamped the craft with the french script BG before stamping the flourish. Used a new EK Success border punch on here as well (I love this punch).  I darkened the lines of the butterfly using a Copic marker and added a few black Stickles to the spots for a little bit of shimmer. Added some satin ribbon and it's all done!

Stamps used: Rubbernecker french script- Rubbernecker flourish, Hero Arts sentiment, Hero Arts digi butterfly,EK Success border punch, SU Top note Die, Versafine black ink.


Now for some other wild news here in the woods of Wisconsin-
we have a mother fox who has 3 babies down in the culvert at the end of our driveway! I was mowing the grass about 2 weeks ago and scared the fox out of the drainpipe that runs under the driveway......and honestly the fox scared the crap out of me as well!!

I have seen mother fox running around the yard frequently the past 2 weeks and I've been trying to get a picture of her but she is too darn fast and I never seem to have the camera ready.  Just today as I was coming home from shopping I saw 3 cute little babies (not sure if they are called pups or what?) coming out to see this big old world (they are so small and soooo cute- squeal!)  I got a little bit of video as they were peeking their heads out and getting some fresh air and playing in the grass. I think one of them had a mouse in it's mouth.....mom must have brought it some lunch. I stayed plenty far away as mom is running around on high alert and I didn't want to scare her too much or get attacked by a crazy mother!

I'm not very good at the whole movie making thing (I've only done it once before) so don't expect anything fabulous.....shaky camera and all that stuff!




Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the fox video!

Anne

May Card Chain Challenge

I finally got up the nerve to participate in Deborah's monthly card chain challenge and - I don't know how she finds the time to manage this but it is really fun- you must go check it out and join in sometime. Basically crafters from all over the world send a card to another crafter in a different country- and there is a choice of a sketch- color combo- or theme to follow each month! Or if you are super talented you can incorpoarate all 3 into your card.

Here is the fabulous card I recieved from Aga in the UK today!

Isn't it divine?

I just LOVE the bright turquoise color and love her embossed blossoms with the dew drops in the middle.....this is sooooo my kind of card!! Thank you Aga and thank you Deborah for hosting the fun card chain challenge each month!

I sent a card to a Marian in the Phillipines last week for the challenge and hoping she recieves it sometime this week so I can reveal what I made for her!

Thanks for dropping by everyone!!

Anne

Play Date Cafe Challenge #29

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Hi there ladies!

I decided it was time to go visit the Play Date Cafe challenge blog.....I keep hearing about it on the Hero Arts Flicker pool and finally checked it out today! I needed to jump start my crafting so I thought I would play along with this weeks colors (lime green, leaf green, pale blue) ......which I must say I almost never use.......I don't know why as I really like this color combo!

I used my Hero Arts long stem poppy and a Hero Arts sentiment and also used a new background stamp I just got yesterday made by Rubbernecker (I went to the rubber stamp and scrapbook expo-  lots of shopping fun! )  I had every intention of sewing a nice white border around the edge of the blue cardstock but as usual I was fighting the darn sewing machine to not clog up the bobbin part. I get so darn frustrated with my sewing machine and my ability to not troubleshoot the problem........(I just might toss it out the window one of these days)!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to participate in some more Play Date Cafe challenges.

Anne

2 cards and some birthday photos!

Hi there ladies- life has been crazy busy for the last week or two! I've had very little time to stamp and honestly very little or no mojo........I hate not having any mojo!
Work has been keeping me busy......also working on trying to get daycare and summer school schedules set up....trying to get out in the garden when the weather allows..... then Mother's day.........oh gosh- where the heck does the time go?

I thought I would share a card I made a few weeks ago for Mother's day and the Hero Arts challenge. I was on an orange/brown kind of kick for a while there...... I used my old wooden tulips stamp and finally tried out a background stamp I've had forever but never used. The white embossing powder got a bit messy here (don't ya just hate that) but oh well- what can you do!
Haven't stamped anything else for a week or more....hopefully soon I'll find some time and get some mojo back!



Now on to the family stuff!

My son Joe had his 6th birthday just over a week ago and instead of a big party he wanted to go to the Mall of America for the day! Sounded good to me....no hustle and bustle trying to throw together a party. I went online and found out you can get a free all day ride wristband for your child if you visit on the day of their birthday (cool huh?). So we went on lots of rides out there and spent the day eating, walking, riding, and visiting Lego Land (my sons favorite place as he is a Lego freak)! And YES we came home with a bag full of new Lego Star Wars toys- he was thrilled with this! He kept asking if he could open the boxes and start putting them together in the car.......sorry buddy......you will lose half of the teeny tiny parts in the car and then you be sorry.

And since my mother in law lives only 5 minutes from the Mall we stopped over there afterwards for some cake and ice cream (and to take a much needed rest....my feet were killing me). Nothing incredibly fancy- grandma made her famous "apple yum yum" cake and we had a great time.

She got him the cutest crab balloon-the eyeballs hung way out off the front of it- hee hee hee! We finally made it back home for more homemade chocolate cake and then hit the sack after a long but fun day!

I finally found some mojo today!

I colored the image a few days ago using Broken China distress ink but never did anything with it until today. See- no mojo.........waaaah!

I used a Stampin Up "freindly words" wheel (which I of course unmounted....it's so much easier to use that way) for the background and stamped the tag punch and added 2 black gems. I misted the main image after using my distress inks and I love the way it appears to be raining. I was going to use this just for a "thinking of you" card but decided that with so many birthdays coming up I would make it a birthday card instead.

Thanks for stopping by and I really appreciate all the lovely comment you so graciously leave!

Anne

Back to Basics stamping

     Stamps: Hero Arts Three Ferns S5154, Sentiment ??? can't remember

This is made for the Hero Arts May monthly challenge to make something for Dad!

I've been eyeing up some older Hero Arts shadow stamps on Ebay and finally won a set last week..............for the amazing low price of 99 cents!! Wohoooo- I love getting a deal like that.

Anyways....on to the stamping. I stamped the 3 assorted shadow stamps using various colors of distress inks and just barely misted them with water before stamping.....I was going for a more muted look (didn't want it to overpower the fern stamp). Then I inked up the fern stamp using vintage photo and embossed that. Distressed the edge a bit and mounted on some caramel and dark brown colored cardstock. A simple and quick card for my very laid back "simple kind of guy" father in law! It was hard not to embellish it with anything at all......I don't think he would really enjoy ribbon or flowers!

Thanks for stopping bye!

Hugs, Anne