Hi everyone. I wanted to share my first post as part of the Fairy Hugs Stamps design team. Each week you will see a new entry here with details on how I created the card or mixed media piece. 

On this card I have featured two of the Fairy Hugs stamps Wisdom and Cirlig the dragon.  The background was created with Tim Holtz distress inks and oxides and I am hoping to present my debut for my YouTube channel with a tutorial on how to get this effect that I call an Aurora.  Stay tuned for more info!

I stamped Cirlig onto the panel with Versafine Clair ink in black and then used clear embossing powder to get that shine. I next stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink and gold heat embossed.  I matted the panel with gold glitter paper and mounted that all onto a black A4 card panel.  I added the little jewel embellishments which are actually meant for fingernails! That's it, super simple card!

 

 

This is my Homage to David Rose and Schitt's Creek!

Products used will be listed at the bottom.

Processes:

First, I created the sign.  I had no idea where it might take me, but I was inspired by some advertisement on my Facebook feed.  I cut out the tiny, tiny letters in black vinyl stuck to 110lb card stock. I knew that I wanted to curve the Apothecary so I cut out a circle on some Post-It and laid it down on the Ranger Manila colored heavy card stock. I fumbled and fought to get the letters spaced and around the bottom of the circle using Ranger Multi-Media Matte. I then imagined that I would need a rose in the center, so I glue the Rose word straight and centered across the top. That took a good hour, the letters kept popping off my tweezers.

I knew I wanted it to look like a metal sign so I coated the whole thing in the texture paste and waited for it to dry.  I rubbed it into the letters with my fingers.  Once dry, I painted it with the Kitsch Flamingo and let that dry. Finally, I took the Vintage Photo Distress Crayon and began rubbing it on, taking it off, rubbing it on again until I was happy with the result. I used a Tombo eraser to sand some of the pain off of the letters.  I used a generic die to cut the sign shape. I glued on the rose ephemera and then tried to distress it and wound up rubbing the design off so I just glued another one on top of it! I cut some fun foam the same shape and glued it to the back of the sign then used some brads to make it look like it was mounted with, well, brads. I distressed the edges and then set it aside to work on the panel.

For the panel, I used the stamp and smudge technique with the various stamps and colors.  I die cut some heavy card stock and used it as a stencil and stenciled the crackle paste in the corner. I pulled off the paper and immediately coated the paste with the Kitsch Flamingo Distress Glaze and let it dry. I then heated the glaze until it melted and let it cool. I coated the whole corner then with the Distress Crayon in Walnut Stain. I used some Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso to distress the whole panel.

Next, I sprayed some Distress Mica Spray on the sign and smudged it around then glued the sign onto the panel.  I found a paper doll I thought might look like a pharmacist and trimmed off the body parts that would be hidden by the sign and then coated him with Distress Glaze in Rusty Hinge and glued him on.  I found an appropriate jumble of words and glued that on and distressed it with the vintage photo left on my brush.   

Tim Holtz/Ranger products used:

663089 Mixed Media Halloween #2

664177 Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 140PK - Alphanumeric Label

Ranger Distress Texture paste in smooth and crackle

Distress Collage Medium

Distress Paint in Kitsch Flamingo

Distress Glaze in Rusty Hinge and Kitsch Flamingo

Distress Crayons in Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Antique Bronze, and Black Soot

Mr Bones CMS345

Dearly Departed CMS413

Examination CMS412

Faded Type CMS397 

Distress Spray Stain in Rusty Hinge

Distress Mica Spray in Antique Bronze

Sticker from Clippings

Paper Doll

Ephemera (I think Field Notes)

Distress Ink in Black Soot and Vintage Photo

Distress Oxide in Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo, and Ground Espresso

Thought I would make a card out of a failed background.  I saw a video where the maker used Tim Holtz Alcohol Lift Ink on her alcohol painted background and got a near perfect print by laying paper on top of it.

Let me tell you, that was NOT the case for me.  All I made was a mess.  I couldn't let all of that yummy ink go to waste, so instead I improvised.  

Step 1. Glue a paper feather that I was never going to use over in the corner then cover it with Distress Texture Paste.  

Step 2. Pour some white paint on some scrap paper and dip an empty tape roll into it to get some sort of paint can spill circles.

Step 3. Decide to add more texture, so I got out the Distress Mica Flakes (not just for Christmas anymore.) I pressed the flakes right into the still wet texture paste.

Step 4. Shake my head and walk away and leave it to dry overnight.

Step 5. Consider my next steps over 5:30 AM coffee.  The original color was a rainbow of different colors that I managed to get from the monoprint. I was not happy with them, so I went to work with Vintage Photo Distress Ink to tone it down and warm it up. Okay, better.

Step 6. Got out the medallions I had made yesterday and decided I should probably use one.  This one is made with the Sizzix Tim Holtz Impresslit 662720 Medallion on cream colored card stock.  I dipped it in embossing ink the coated it with Speckled Egg Embossing Glaze. Next I grunged it up with the Distress Crayons in Antique Photo and Antique Gold.  

Step 7. Started to look through my ephemera for some more embellishments and spent the next 4 hours reorganizing my craft room and ephemera.  

Step 8.  Pick out the ephemera that I wanted to use and decided on placement.

Step 9. Decided to distress the edges with a thread cutting tool and then sew around that.

Steps the rest. Glued everything on where I wanted it and glued it to a Kraft card base.

 

In memory of Joseph William Pori 1-8-1993 to 6-2-2020 For Black Balloon Day to raise awareness of the countless drug overdose deaths around the world and in support of all of the grieving family left behind in the wake of the drug epidemic.

This was a very difficult card to make. Not so much in the technical aspect but in the emotional one.  It is very hard to glue on embellishments through tears.  I had to press on.

Anyway. How it was done. 

I made the background on Yupo with Tim Holtz Ranger alcohol ink.  I followed the advice of fellow fairy stampers and made a copy by scanning it into my computer and printing it out! WOW! I did take it a step further and took it into Photoshop where I added the orbs at the top because it was white. I added a layer underneath it in Photoshop then removed the white at the top.  I filled in the layer beneath with some pink then chose a pink from the main image for the foreground color and a darker pink for the background and applied the Render Clouds filter. I guess I never told you that I used to write for a magazine based out of the UK teaching digital photo techniques.  I wrote technical tutorials step-by-step how to create effects in Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. I digress. 

Using my Misti stamping platform, I first stamped the Tree of Wisdom on the left with Versafine Clair Nocturn ink then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Next, I stamped and embossed the vines in the same way.  Next came Rufus, my spirit animal, also stamped and embossed followed by part of The Moon Tree and a tiny fairy. All these stamps are from The Fairy Stamper website.

I carefully outlined the silhouettes with a .5 Gelly Roll pen, then I sprayed the whole thing with Technique Junkies Shimmering Bliss in iridescent.  I blended both Aged Mahogany and Black Soot Distress Ink along the edges then I mounted it on Tim Holtz Metallic Paper and then mounted that onto some black cardstock with Gina K Connect glue and some fun foam.

The sentiment is from LDRS Creative. It's a cool sentiment stamp set that has a coordinating die to cut out multiple sentiments at once. This set I stamped on black cardstock then white heat embossed with WOW superfine embossing powder.   

I made this alcohol ink background specifically for my Fairy Hugs and Lavinia stamps. Little did I know what a fight I might have trying to get a castle stamped on! This is Dragon Stone Castle  from Fairy Hugs. I ruined 3 perfectly good backgrounds trying.  Never give up! I will wait the however many days for this ink to dry.

 

I went vintage grunge for the second card in my St. Patrick's Day series. This is a mini slimline card that measures 3 1/2 x 6 inches.  I started with a piece of Neenah cardstock in white and trimmed it down to 3 1/4 x 5 3/4. I used my brush to color it with Lucky Clover Distress Ink.  Onto that I tacked down the Tim Holtz fabric that I had stained with the Lucky Clover Distress ink with some Distress Collage Medium and let it dry.  I attached the metal band using some velvet ribbon from Tim Holtz Idea-Ology Christmas collection. I then used my sewing machine to sew it together.  

I created the clover with some heavy card stock coated in Tim Holtz Distress Mica spray in Tarnished Pewter.  I cut it out using Tim Holtz Impresslits Heart and Clover then colored it with Distress Crayon in Black Soot and rubbed most of it off leaving the worn appearance.  I tacked that on using a brad.  I grunged up the card base and sewed down another background paper then attached the front with some foam tape.

I also grunged up the envelope with some Vintage Photo Distress Oxide and Lucky Clover Distress Oxide and stamped on a large clover stamp from Colorado Stamp Company.  I die cut an address label and glued it on and stamped the sentiment.

Saint Patrick's Day Series Card 1

I started with the stamp set "Walk, Crawl, or Run" from Picket Fence Studios. I stamped the shoes with Versafine Onyx ink and then heat embossed with WOW clear embossing powder.

I used Tim Holtz Distress Oxides to watercolor the shoes in the colors Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, and Black Soot. I splattered some water on to give them the distressed look and fussy cut them out.

I glued some Tim Holtz Idea-Ology background paper onto some Kraft cardstock then glued the shoes on.

I Stamped and water colored the flower from Flower Garden CMS215 with the Distress Oxides in Kitsch Flamingo, Mustard Seed, and Fossilized Amber then cut it out using the matching dies 661613. I cut the stem with the same in just some green cardstock.  The little bug is a rub on from Remnant Rubs Idea-Ology. I stamped the text from Tiny Text onto black cardstock and embossed with white heat embossing powder from Ranger.

Finally, I glued on some shamrocks I got from Hobby Lobby.

 

Playing around with my alcohol inks from Ranger. Learning some new techniques and having tons of fun as long as the weather holds. Alcohol ink, especially the pearls, do not get along well with humidity.

 

Catching up!

This first card was the "mistake" card. I colored the cat with some Tim Holtz Distress Oxide in Chipped Sapphire and discovered it clashed with the background so I tore it off.  What I did here was to create the background using Tim Holtz Distress Oxide in Stormy Sky using the background stamp that I got from Technique Junkies recently called Pillow Ticking. I adore this background stamp and it stamped perfectly right out of the package.  

Next, I grunged up the edges using the Distress Oxide in Vintage Photo.  I stamped the cat from the Snarky Cats Halloween stamp set directly on to the background so that when I fussy cut the second stamping I would be able to keep the fine whiskers and hairs.  I used a bottle cap to make the stain on the background.  I tore the edges of the background and coated with more Distress Oxide in Vintage Photo.  I swipe stamped some white cardstock with more of the Stormy Sky Distress Oxide then sewed the background onto the colored cardstock.  I glued that down to the Kraft cardstock card base.  

I created the R&R from a stamp from a company who was clearing out their inventory then double coated it with Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Glaze.  

I used a brick stencil from Tim Holtz to stencil on the bricks with some Distress Texture paste in Crackle.  When it dried, I brushed on Aged Mahogany Distress Ink.  

Finally, I decorated it with some Tim Holtz ephemera and stamped the Happy Birthday.  Links to all products will be listed below.

This was the cat that I had stamped for the first card. I water colored the cat with the Distress Oxide in Chipped Sapphire after stamping him with Ranger Archival ink in Black Soot. I found the Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide to be too cool to fit in so I started over, this time doing the background in Black Soot distress Oxide. 

Products: 

Technique Junkies Pillow Ticking, be sure to check out the March release and the wonderful videos from Glitter Grunge Greetings and Tracy Schultz YouTube channels!

Snarky Cat Halloween

Distress Products from Ranger
 

I am not affiliated in any way with any of these links, it's just where I shop!