First Try at Foiling

 

It's a pretty cool and easy technique. Using a stencil I got from Simon Says Stamps called Boho Circle on an aqua card stock I spread out the deco foil transfer gel duo using a flexible palate knife. Pulled off the stencil and let that dry for about 3 hours since I put it on pretty thick.  I then layed down the deco foil in the color Glass Slipper and gently burnished with my fingers. I then placed the paper and foil into a folded piece of parchment paper and ran it through my pre-heated laminator. Waited for it to cool and pulled up the foil.  Oh. My. Gosh.  So much fun. The Wish word is using the negative leftover and some glitter with just some double-sided sticky tape and die cut. All you ever wanted to know about foiling, you can find at Nancy Stamps YouTube channel.  

Alice Card 8

 

I totally broke this card.  I was not happy with the face on this Cheshire Cat so I decided to alter it and smeared the ink!  Did what I could to recover and used some transparent texture paste which ALSO smeared.  Keeping it anyway.  

Alice Card 7

 I again used the Technique Junkies Classic Acanthus background stamp for this one. I stamped it out in Fired Brick Distress Oxide and colored the rest with the Faded Jeans Oxide.  You are seeing my first attempt at foiling with Tim Holtz Sticky Embossing Powder and some WOW foil Catherine Pooler was kind enough to send me in my order (she also sent me a neat stamp set.)  Rabbit from My Porch Prints printed then fussy cut.  There I go with the crackle paste again.  

Alice Card 6

 

I think this one might be my favorite.  The background stamp used was from Technique Junkies and it's called Batik. I love, love, LOVE this stamp.  This time I thought I might try out my Catherine Pooler ink.  It did not disappoint.  The stamp pads are so juicy! I got the set of mini's to try out her inks.  The set is called Foundations and the color I used is Rockin Red and MAN! The watch is from my stamp and die set Tim Holtz Distinguished.  The rabbit is from My Porch Prints. I did the will you and be mine in Photoshop then printed on cardstock, cut out, and inked.  

Alice Card 5

 

This one is a mish-mash of techniques and supplies.  Mostly all previously mentioned.

Alice Card 4

 I changed up the colors a bit in this one because I wanted to flow with the colors of Alice's dress. The background stamp I used came from an indy company called Technique Junkies. This one is called Classic Acanthus and I can't get enough of it! I stamped it in Ripe Persimmon and smudged then filled in the sides with Faded Jeans. Alice and the chessboard came from My Porch Prints. I used some more of that crazy cool crackle texture paste and a couple of embellishments, one from Tim Holtz and one from Walmart. Hey, gotta find what you find! Oh this ribbon! I wish I would have bought more. It came from Joann and it's Ofray brand.

Alice Card 3

 

I used the same paper for this card and the illustration is from that Dollar Tree Alice in Wonderland book.  By the way.  The book pages were inked and decoupaged on using Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium.  The hears were embossed with a Tim Holtz 3d Texture Fade embossing folder called Lace. I embossed it on Sizzix Texture Roll.  This stuff is amazing and it looks and acts like leather! I haven't played with my gold one yet.  I used the same ink colors and added in also Blue Sapphire and Vintage Photo Distress Oxides.  Finally, I used some Tim Holtz Distress Texture Paste in crackle and coated with Distress Glitter in Rock Candy.  Most of the supplies can be found on Scrapbook.com or Simon Says Stamps.  The clock was from a Tim Holtz ephemera pack, I can't remember which one because I dumped them all out in a large flat bin for easier rummaging. 

Alice Series Card 2

 

I used the same ink smudging technique in the entire series. I used the same heart die throughout as well. It cam from a set from Stampendous that I found at Tuesday Morning.  The wings are included with the set.  This one I embossed on Tim Holtz Metallic paper with a Tim Holtz 3d Texture Fades embossing folder called Botanical.  The tag came from the Sidekick starter kit mentioned on page 1, also embossed.  The words were a printable I got from my favorite Etsy store called My Porch Prints.  I printed then fussy cut and inked before adhering to the card.  The stamps used again are old ones whose sleeves I felt weren't important enough to keep at the time.

My Alice Series

This is my Alice series for Valentines day.  I am having all sorts of fun using different techniques and mediums.  I will try to link supplies and where I got them.

Techniques Used: From Tim Holtz, a background technique where you stamp the image on and then immediately smudge.  The stamps I used are old and I can't even remember where I got them. You could use ANY stamp at all.  I used Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks in: Fossilized Amber, Candied Apple, And Seedless Preserves.  When done stamping and smearing I gave it some spritzes of water.  I hand tore the edges and sewed them down with my sewing machine.  The Alice and Hookah smoking caterpillar came from an Alice in Wonderland book I found at the Dollar Tree.  The letters came from the starter kit I got with my Tim Holtz Alterations Sidekick . The heart was cut from Tim Holtz Metallic Cardstock from the Jewels collection.  The little tag, also Tim Holtz (are you sensing a theme here?) came from Joann as well as the little shiny hearts.

 It's Christmas Eve and also my day off, so I thought I would try my hand at Artist's Trading Cards.  Artist Trading Cards, or ATC are little postcards the size of baseball cards (regulation size 2 1/2 by 3 1/2.)  People actually do trade these things, but I am not sure I am ready for ONE MORE GROUP to keep up with.  For now I will make them until I am bored with them and then hoard them like all of the other stuff I have made. Guys, these are so much fun to make.  I made two sets today.

Both sets are mixed media.  I started off with this first set by cutting chipboard into 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 rectangles.  I then glued plain white card stock of the same size to both sides.  Next I put them in my splat box and sprayed them with Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stain in the colors of Vintage Photo and Antique Linen.  I then blended Tim Holtz Distress Oxide in the color Ground Espresso.

I proceeded to dig through my scraps and found some scrap paper with the butterflies on it. I cut them out and then embossed them with Tim Holtz Distress Glaze in Antique Linen.

Next, I ripped some pieces of embossed scrap paper and some scrapbook paper and started planning out my designs.  

I collaged the papers and the butterflies with some Distress Collage Matte Medium and added some little burlap scraps.  

I popped the Tim Holtz metal sentiments up on some Scrapbook.com foam squares, tied in the little string, and glued them to to the cards.  

Next, I added some Distress Crackle Medium and waited for it to dry and crack.  Once it dried, I brushed on some Distress Oxide in the color Peacock Feather to add some pops of color.  I glued on the little flatback pearls and added some Distress Collage Medium to the edges where I sprinkled some Nuvo Shining Bright gold glitter.

This next set was more simplified. I did the same procedure as about, but instead decided to go with a bee theme. The background is done with the Distress Oxides in the colors, Black Soot, Fossilized Amber, and Scattered Straw.  I also mashed some bubble wrap coated in Waverly Chalk paint in the color Ink for some texture. The bee images and the sentiments came from MyPorchPrints over on Etsy. I love all of her vintage digital papers.  I added the flowers from my stash that I bought at Michael's last year.  I used some flatback pearls for the centers of the flowers.  I added white Nuvo drops from Tonic Studios, but they took on the yellow dinge. I am okay with that.

I thought I would start off with a few reviews of some stamps I recently received.  This one is called Kitty Watching from Technique Junkies.  It's a red rubber stamp with perfect detail. I just love the emotion this darling's face invokes.  

I stamped her on 120lb white card stock in Versafine Onyx black ink.  I wanted to keep the black and white feel of the card so I just shaded her in some Copic colors N0 and N2.  The silver background is from my stash of no-named scraps and I stamped the same image with Staz-On black ink. I love the smell of that stuff! I fussy cut the kitty and glued her down over the top of the stamped image on the background so I could keep the whiskers details.  I mounted a sentiment from the Tim Holtz Big Snarky Sentiments on black card stock and mounted that with Scotch mounting tape onto the silver background.  I matted the background with the same black card stock and then mounted that to white cardstock that I ink blended with Tim Holtz Distress Oxide in Black Soot and the water droplets technique. Finally, I added the clear glass embellishments, mostly trying to cover where I had damaged the paper! 

If you want to learn some cool techniques, head on over to Ryan's Youtube channel where you can get a discount on this and more stamps from Technique Junkies!

Be kind, this is only day one of a more dedicated blog.

 Hi everyone. I don't know about you, but I am so happy to see the end of this worse year of my life.  I have decided I am going to blog my therapy. What is that therapy? Making things, cards, tags, boxes, mixed media.  I lost 27-year-old my son, Joe this past June and making has been the best medicine to carry me through. Be on the lookout for lots of posts of my makes with pictorial tutorials as well as where you can get and learn from some of the top makers in the business!