AECP#10 Irresistible Inking Techniques

Hi friends! I have finished the first group of 10 classes for the Altenew Education Certification Program with this post! I am loving this challenge and really look forward to the next ten.

The class was taught by Sara Naumann. Sara has a wonderful teaching style and I picked up many tips and tricks. One is particular (and I don't know why I never thought of it) is to have your acrylic block just slightly larger than your stamp. It keeps your stamp from rocking and leaving unwanted marks. I generally use my MISTI, but a good tip for those times when you stamp with a block. 

I made 4 cards using the stamp with the acrylic block technique. You ink up an acrylic block (I used various sizes) direct to an ink pad, spritz it with water and then place it on a piece of card stock. I used Simon Hurley's Stark White card stock for all 4 because his paper is uncoated and takes well to water techniques. The background usually ends up with white space which gives the card movement and interest.

Once dry, I stamped various floral images on the cards with Altenew Obsidian Black Ink. Next, I smooshed Altenew ink onto a white palette from the ink pad.  Using that color, I watercolored in the images, using a damp brush.

This pink one was my favorite and I stamped and colored to purposely leave all the white space. This was one large acrylic block and I used several of the Altenew pink colors.

Here are close ups of the other 3 cards:

One other technique I used on the 1st pink card was "direct to paper inking".  You gently run the edge of your card through the ink pad to leave a nice colored line. You can see the pink edge on this picture below:

Lastly, I used Stickles in the center of the flowers to give them a little shine. All items I used to make these cards are listed below. I hope your enjoyed them - I certainly had fun making them!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

MFT Weds Sketch Challenge with Santa

 

For this week's Wednesday Sketch Challenge at My Favorite Things, I thought I would use my MFT's Sun-Lovin Santa & Dies. I thought of waves when I saw the 3 lines of the sketch and was off to color!

I love to make Christmas cards all year long and then come December I am all set. No pressure for me! 

These are the cutest images and the dies cut out between the legs and a bit in the trees. If you are of a certain age, you may remember VW vans. Now here is your change to color and make it psychedelic! 

I used a retired MFT stencil called "waves" and ink blended Distress Ink Salty Ocean for the lines along the bottom. The sun-rays are from MFT's Radiating Rays stencil and Distress Ink Squeezed Lemonade. 

As usual, I used Wendy Vecchi's Make Art Station to ink blend. Makes it so easy - no sprays, tapes, etc. It holds everything nicely in place. It comes in 2 different sizes. I actually have both...sometimes you only need the 7", but sometimes you need the 12" for larger projects. The magnets don't snap together to each other like other types do, yet hold the paper and stencil tight. For less than $15 at Scrapbook.com it is a great tool.

The center panel was created with Simon Hurley's Bright White card stock. Its not coated, so it takes blending perfectly. I ink blended the sand with Ranger's Distress Ink called Tea Dye and the sky was Salty Ocean. 

I stamped all the images onto Ranger's Inkssential Watercolor paper using Altenew's Obsidian Black Ink. I watercolored all the images with my Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils and die cut them out with the coordinating dies. They are glued flat to the center panel, but that panel is popped up with fun foam. I added sparkle with Spectrum Noir's Sparkle Pen and Glossy Accents. A white heat embossed sentiment on black and a few Trinity Stamps Crystal Clear Rhinestones finished the front.

Another sentiment from the set was used on the inside and a second generation stamp of the palm tree gave it just a little extra.

I mentioned in my last blog how much I was enjoying this holder by Trinity Stamps called "tidy Tray".

Look at my last shot of the card above with the red doily and see all the crystals in the photo. Before it was a major job to get all the crystals back into their container. Now with the tidy Tray, I just shake them in and they easily slip back into the original container. Life saver!

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully you enjoyed a little bit of Christmas fun in mid year!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Color Throwdown #599 with Kelly Creates

You know I love a color challenge. The minute I see the colors, the wheels start turning and I think about stamps that I have been wanting to us and just haven't gotten around to it. Love to use what's in my stash. How about you?

I couldn't help but think about the Kelly Creates Floral Stamps I have when I saw these colors from this week's Color Throwdown Challenge. Pink, blue, green and yellow and I knew I didn't want it to look like a baby card!

I actually bought this Kelly Creates Floral set twice (somehow!?) and haven't used them at all! I figured now I can make some stamped backgrounds easily with 2 sets. Right now, their price at Scrapbook.com is a little over $5.00! When you think about all the designs you can make with them, they are well worth the money.

These are acrylic stamps-sort of floppy, not too sturdy. I usually work with photopolymer, so I wasn't sure how acrylic would stamp. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I stamped the center floral design with Altenew Obsidian Black Ink and used Nuvo Crystal Clear Embossing powder over it. The landscape card was stamped with Versamark Ink and sprinkled with Altenew White Embossing powder. I used Altenew Watercolor Paper for both cards, since I knew I wanted to watercolor with Altenew's 36 half pan set.

The borders for the landscape card were totally watercolored. I used 2 strips of Altenew gold washi tape to create a border. The sentiment is from Trinity Stamps, A Crafter's Heart. Such a fun stamp...definitely on my coloring to do list.

Here is a close up of the landscape card. I used My Favorite Things Peach Bellini for the card base.

This portrait card was so fun to put together. Once I finished watercoloring, I used Tim Holtz's Woodgrain Layering Stencil with Altenew's Silver Lake color blended on top. I just put post it notes over the design and was careful not to blend on top of it. I used My Wendy Vecchi Make Art Station. For me, it has become a staple in my craft room.

I stamped the sentiment using Taylored Expressions Noteworthy set with Altenew Obsidian Black Ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I like to do this because this ink takes a while to totally dry. It takes well to heat embossing - has a nice clean shiny appearance and then doesn't smear. I die cut it with my Jillian Vance Polka Dot circle and popped it up with foam tape on the card.

The landscape card has Trinity Stamps Berry Blue Jelly Drop Mix and the portrait card has Altenew's Pocketful of Sunshine Enamel Dots for a little bling!

I just bought Trinity Stamps tidy Tray and love it! I thought the gems might be hard to pour back into its container with the letter "t" in the bottom, but for some reason it works perfectly. I have plenty of room to sort out the embellishments I need and then when finished, easily pour them back. 

Here's a look at both cards. Same stamp set, same watercolor paper and same half pan watercolors, but totally different looks!

Thanks for stopping by and visiting. Hope you are finding some creative time for yourself during COVID-19 trying times. Be well, my friends.

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Eskimo Kisses with SugarPea Mix It Up June 2020

 

I just love making Christmas cards in the summer. North Carolina can be pretty darn hot and I am originally from Buffalo, New York, so I do miss snow at Christmas. I thought for this month's SugarPea Design Mix It Up Challenge a bit of snow would be fun!

I basically used the sketch design, but did pull in a lot of the turquoise blue, too. I have a retired set from SugarPea called Eskimo Kisses and it is still available at the Not 2 Shabby shop!

Matching die cuts..not sure these are available.

I taped off the large band on the front of an A2 card base. I stamped the little snowflakes from the set with Versamark ink and sprinkled them with sparkling embossing power I had in my stash. Next, I ink blended with Broken China using my Scrapbook.com foam blending tools. I just use one for each color i.e. one for blues, one for reds, etc.

The images were stamped onto my new favorite Ranger watercolor paper. The smooth side is great for stamping and takes the Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils beautifully! I colored all the images in the stamp set, but only used a couple in the final design. I have plenty left for more cards! The sparkle is from Spectrum Noir Sparkling Crystal Clear marker and Stardust Sparkling Gelly Roll Pen.

The sentiment was stamped with Altenew Obsidian Black Ink and sprinkled with Nuvo Clear Embossing Powder. I die cut the flag shape from a retired My Favorite Things Flag Dies.

I like to leave the inside sentiment simple, so there is room to write a message.

Clean and pretty simple and ready for my stash of Christmas cards! Thanks for stopping by.

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.

Click here to visit Not 2 Shabby

The Card Concept 138 Summer Fun with Impression Obsession

Summer fun challenge from the Card Concept! I love making summer cards, always so bright and vibrant. I was inspired by the sailboat in the photo for these 3 water colored cards using Impression Obsession stamps. I went with a Clean & Graphic Style:

Clean and Graphic defined:

-Clean lines

-Simple Treatment of Text

-No frills

I actually dusted off my Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils. I forgot how much I loved working with them. I have the 72 piece set and wanted to swatch out the colors before I started using them. Waffle Flower has an amazing set of stamps & dies which are just perfect for swatching your stash. I used the Color Swatches Stamp set (just the one line stamp) with Altenew's Obsidian Black Ink on watercolor paper to start.

I put the pencils in numerical order (one pencil lost!) and colored each into a block, just on the left hand side. Using a damp Silver Black Velvet watercolor brush, I pulled out the color into the entire block and then wrote the name & number next to it. So helpful to see how the colors will react with water and to have a true reference for painting. 

I did print a color chart found online for the pencils, but my printer does not always show true colors. I prefer to swatch and enjoy the process for it makes me familiar with the way the product handles and I get to see & use each color. The back of the pencil has a color band, but again that does not show true colors.

Here are all 3 cards, using Ranger's Inkssentials Watercolor Paper (the smooth side) and the images are stamped with Altenew's Obsidian Black Ink. So fun and relaxing to color with the Inktense Pencils while watching TV with the family.

Each one was die cut with a separate border frame (shown below in the links). I do love a nice clean border around a card.

All mounted onto colored card stock from my stash. The sentiments are simple and basic...good to have in your stash. Sadly, Paper Smooches has announced they are closing their store and this set is absolutely perfect to have. Still available, I believe from Scrapbook.com. I have used both Paper Smooches and Brutus Monroe's sentiment sets many, many times.

Here is a look at all 3 cards...

Thank you for visiting my blog, commenting and participating with the Card Concept challenges!

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.