Blue Roses

Happy Valentine's Day! If you're allergy-ridden like me, your favorite flowers are probably the ones you paint yourself, lol. Additionally on the plus side, the painted ones can be any color, any shape, any size you want; and they'll never fade or die or drop petals all over!

Blue Roses painted with Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors in my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal from Ranger.

Rudolph the RED Nosed Reindeer

It's time for another new prompt at Jingle Belles and this time we're solidly IN THE RED... but in a *good* way! To be more specific: In honor of Valentine's Day, the brief is to make a card that's predominantly... you guessed it... RED! ♥

I love using the holly dies from Wendy Vecchi's Christmas Add-On Set for her Essential Envelopes to construct double-layer poinsettias. Then I added foliage and hearts from the same set and a couple of Eyelet Outlet Poinsettia Brads to the centers. I placed all of the above on top of a stacked-diamond background pattern made from lots of RED patterned paper scraps that I built on top of some ancient (RED!) My Mind's Eye patterned paper.

JB2604: Rudolph the RED Nosed Reindeer runs until the evening of Wednesday, February 25th. Hop over to Jingle Belles to see Stephanie's fabulous (RED!) card and link up one (or more!) of your own. ♥

Hoppy Valentine's Day

Eyelet Outlet Frog Set Brads feature frogs (obviously) as well as cattails and waterlilies; everything you need to make a scene for Valentine's Day or any other "HOPPY" occasion. A pair of Mini Butterfly Brads have fluttered by to celebrate.

Hopping Shopping List:

Frog Set Brads 

Mini Butterfly Brads

Don't FROG-et to hop on over to the Eyelet Outlet Store for lots more fabulous brad styles!

Lauren Bergold

hopes your day is un-FROG-getable!

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SOS567: Bent Out of Shape

For the brand new challenge at Shopping Our Stash we'd like you to make a Shaped Card, by which we mean no squares or rectangles allowed. But round, oval, diamond, hexagonal or... my personal fave... CUPCAKE-SHAPED are all excellent choices!

I don't use my Stephanie Barnard Cupcake Fold-Its die set often enough, but to compensate, whenever it's out, I rarely stop at one cupcake-shaped card. This time I made a trio of treatos, in appropriately cupcakey colors of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. I used scraps for all of the layers except the cardbases, for which you actually need 4.5 x 12" piece of sturdy cardstock.

SOS567: Bent Out of Shape runs until the evening of Monday, February 23rd. Be sure to check out all the fab shaped cards the Crew have made to inspire you at Shopping Our Stash!

MM06: Stencil Cleaning Background

When I'm using stencils and Ranger Archival Inks* I use alcohol wipes to clean the ink off the stencils. If my sketchbook or journal happens to be close at hand, I often turn to a blank page and wipe the ink off quite randomly onto the page. After a few repeats, depending on the colors and patterns, sometimes you have a random-but-interesting melange; sometimes you just have a grungy layer of more or less mud. Either way, your page is no longer blank. Occasionally, such a background might even turn out to be the start of something bizarrely cool, which is what happened here.

I had been using the three new Ranger Make-It Stencils (Bow Lattice, Peg Board and Sprinkle Hearts) with a palette of rainbow-inspired Archival Inks, so there are a lot of random shades. A few are the pure ink colors, but most are the mingling of two or more shades. I decided to draw a very loose mandala on top, and eventually instead of traditional petals I started adding swirls and flourishes and... tentacles? 

After all the shapes were on board I added doodles and some additional color. Feel free to hum along to Octopus' Garden... or any other silly, whimsical tune you like! I wish you a warm and colorful week! ♥

*This idea works with any type of ink, paint, spray or paste; but the heavier the consistency, the sturdier the journal or paper you use as the "clean up" page should be. Luckily, Dina Wakley's Mixed Media Watercolor Journal stands up to pretty much ANYTHING!

Here Fishy Fishy

Here's another collage I started last weekend when my friend Devon @futureperfect321 was here; I had made the background while we were together...

...then later I added the focal elements (fishies + cat) which I cut out from my friend Gina's @ginaisarty Clip Art Book.

I hope this weekend you'll get to hang out with friends, and/or make some art, and/or devour a delicious Thai takeaway! (Feel free to substitute your favorite people, activities and foodstuffs to create your own Perfect Day Scenario!)

Another Year Wiser

Ranger's new Make-It line of Stencils and Stamps, combine brilliantly with my favorite shades of Archival Ink, to totally streamline the cardmaking process. 

This card features the Bow Lattice Stencil applied in rainbow diagonals of Vibrant Fuchsia, Coastal Coral, Sun Dazed, Sea Grass, Aquamarine and Aubergine. Then the numerals from the Chic Birthday Photopolymer Stamp Set were added in the same colors, between the bows, for even more color and detail.

The sentiment, candle and tiny hearts were all stamped in Emboss It Clear Ink and embossed with Ranger White E/P; then covered with a nice bold coat of Aubergine Archival that was flicked with Isopropyl Alcohol to create a fun mottled effect that's duplicated on the background mat. The rose stamp is the only element that isn't included in the Chic Birthday Set; it's from the Wild Hearts Set and is embossed in Magenta Powder on scraps of Stark White Cardstock, then cut out and scattered around the card. 

Skinny green mats and a bit of wonky machine stitching complete the design of this colorful and exuberant birthday greeting!