Sunday, June 12, 2011

Enjoy the Journey!

The Hero Arts blog had a wonderful tutorial regarding watercoloring with Distress Paints. I have never tried actually "painting" with them... spritzing, stamping, and antiquing with them, yes...but to actually use a brush to paint an image, no.  So, I decided to go one step further, and try to make a stained glass effect on vellum with them. It worked pretty well!

Here's the Skipping Stones sketch for this week!

Skipping Stones also makes the perfect dragonfly image for me to practice with!  I stamped onto vellum with Staz-On and let it dry thoroughly. Then I simply applied a tiny bit of Distress Ink to the wings, and took my finger and spread it around a bit.  ( Yes, my fingers are 3 shades of reds, blues, and greens now!)  But I really like the effect! Oh, and I also spritzed the final result with the tiniest amount of gold Glimmer Mist.
   It made the wings curl just slightly, and added the delicate look to the wings of the dragonfly.



Join Hero Arts for their monthly challenges! 
 I am going to be entering this one for sure!

Supplies:
Cardstock; Bazzill
Paper: DCWV, Doodlin'
Stamps:  Skipping Stones,  and Hero Arts (Travel Journal)
Distress Inks; Tim Holtz
French Velvet ribbon

Button Boutique!

I love these dies and stamps!  When Papertrey Ink revealed these several months ago, I went completely mad for them! And my good friend, Liz,who is a real sweetie, decided to get them for me!  We have BIG future plans for these little babies... (sorry, details down the road).  But in the meantime, I am having the time of my life playing with them! I have always been a seamstress, of sorts. I loved Clothing 101 in school, and made many of my kids clothes when they were young.  Halloween was just another excuse for me to get out the Singer! 
Anything to do with the hobby of sewing interests me. But at this point in time, the small projects are much more appealing to me!

Between the great retro papers that are out there, and all the cool trims available, these projects are bound to be a favorite with cardmakers! 

To start with, I wanted to try the "Make it Monday" technique at Papertrey Ink's blog, Capture the Moment.  This week it was tissue texturing...very reminescent of the old tissue paper layering with the Mod Podge. And surprisingly, after trying several types of adhesive, that's what actually worked best!  I love the way it softens the colors of your papers.  I HAD to use my pattern paper with and without tissue so that the card would reflect both contrasting versions.  I even tissued the sentiment tag...and pulled out the old sewing machine to stitch around the edge.

Then I used the button card and the button dies from the Button Boutique Collection. Too easy! 

Lastly, I dug into my sewing stash for some mini ric-rak. I topped it off with an actual OLD safety pin.

                   I LOVE THIS TECHNIQUE!

Supplies:
Paper: DCWV, Lady Couture
Stamps and Dies: Papertrey Ink, Button Boutique
Ric-Rac from my stash
Mod Podge Matte Adhesive
Helmar 450 Quick Dry

Challenges:
Papertrey Ink, (Make it Monday)
Moxie Fab World (Sewing)






MFT November Sketch Challenge!

This week at MFT ,  the sketch challenge #462 is  a fairly simple one!.   Here's my take on a much needed Get Well card for my ...