A Bright and Happy Hanukkah

Welcoming the Festival of Lights with a simple but elegant card featuring Michelle Ward's NYC Skyline Stencil and Concord and 9th's Seasonal Sayings stamp set from The Ink Pad. More details on TIP Blog today!

Gloss Spray + Gel Plate

I couldn't resist showing off one more card made from the things I learned in Dina Wakley's awesome "Focus on Gloss Sprays" class. This one was made using Gloss Sprays on my 6" Gel Plate, with Michelle Ward's beautiful NYC Skyline Stencils and Masks, exclusive to The Ink Pad; all the info's on TIP Blog today. ♥

Stencils, Ink-Blending and the Dreaded One Layer Card!

Something you seldom see me do is a one layer card (!) with a plain white background (!!) I definitely start cards with the intention of them having one or the other; but then I get a big smudge and either fussy-cut or add more layers. But not this time! Ok, yes, there are gems in the sky and it's tempting to think they're covering up... well... something! But no, those are 100% optional, entirely gratuitous gems! Head over to The Ink Pad Blog to see the whole card and share my triumph, lol! ♥♥♥

Happy Hanukkah!

The Festival of Lights begins at sundown and I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone who is celebrating a very Happy Hanukkah from everyone at The Ink Pad! This timely card is on The Ink Pad Blog today, if you'd like to stop by and read a bit more about it.

Lots and Lots...

...of layers on today's card on The Ink Pad Blog. Old school round eyelets and grungy stenciled gel prints combined with Michelle Ward's Manhattan Map Stamp Set for perhaps my most New York-centric card yet? Hop over for all the details!

I'll Take Manhattan

To paraphrase Sir Mix-a-Lot, "I like big cards, and I cannot lie"! Case in point the A9 that's featured on The Ink Pad Blog for Stencil Sunday. It features not one, not two, but three of Michelle Ward's beautiful New York City themed stencils made exclusively for The Ink Pad. Prefer stamps to stencils? She's designed some of them too. You should probably check it out! ♥

It's Autumn in New York...

...and that's the theme of today's card, which features Eyelet Outlet Leaf Brads, a gorgeous Michelle Ward NYC Skyline Stencil and some not-so-gorgeous gel prints that I "recycled" as patterned paper! Hop over to the Ink Pad Blog to see the whole card and read all about it!

What's Pink and Orange...

...and Fuchsia and Tea Rose and Saffron Yellow and so nice they named it twice? The "New York Sunset Skyline" card I made using Michelle Ward's NYC Skyline Stencil and Masks! It's my first "Stencil Sunday" post on The Ink Pad Blog and I'd love for you to hop over, see the whole card and hear a little bit about how I made it! ♥

because i have SO MUCH free time, lol...

...thus i've decided to take part in birgit koopsen's "30 days of gel printing" challenge! ok, seriously: i don't really have time for this at the moment and doubt i will complete every single day. but... BK has such amazing ideas and as soon as you see them you kind of HAVE TO try them. and i've already learned a couple of slam dunk new techniques, such as this awesome "packing tape lift" from last night:

day 6: tape

even if you're not into gel printing, i highly recommend watching this 5 minute birgit koopsen video of the process because it's completely hypnotic! and i'm not just saying that because i'm too lazy to describe the technique in detail, although that is also true! :) to sum it up briefly: you compose sparingly on the plate, using paint, stamps, stencils, etc... let everything DRY... and then use a strip of clear packing tape to lift the design off the plate. absolutely brilliant and quite easy to do! i predict you will be seeing this again. a lot.

(i highly recommend birgit's videos generally, for that matter. there's no voice over, no extraneous detail, you just watch her demonstrate and any crucial facts you need to know show up as text on the screen.)

day 1: colors of your flag

i couldn't quite resist making stripes with my small brayer and using nested star dies to make my own cardstock masks.

day 2: mask

possibly my all time favorite stencil is michelle ward's nyc skyline stencil and masks set which is exclusive to the ink pad. you can tell how much i love it by how grubby all the parts of it are, because that is not a second print off to the left, that is the stencil and masks!!!

day 3: lace

i used real lace, you can see it at the bottom there! for best results i used a fair amount of paint on the plate, laid the lace down, and carefully pressed the paper into all the nooks and crannies to get the detail. i found thin deli paper to be best for this, since i could actually see that the was paint transfering before i lifted the paper.

day 4: water soluble crayons

this is something i need a lot more practice with. you have to dip the crayons in water to get them to make distinct marks. and it's quite easy to be too wet or too dry. i'm happy with my finished print, tho i confess that after the main design was dry, i outlined the various shapes and marks with a dry scribble stick to show the detail better. i think in future i'd use a contrasting color, as well!

day 5: no brayer

i used a plastic palette knife to spread and blend a few shades of paint, then lifted that gorgeous design via michelle ward's hex pattern stencil.

this may well be the only week in september that i do ALL the prompts, but even if i stopped right now, i'd feel like i learned more than enough to make it well worth my time! ♥