Almost hummingbird season

 

The weather here has been crazy -- record-setting warm one day, freezing the next. Daffodils and flowering trees are starting to bud, and I'm afraid a hard freeze is going to come along and spoil all that spring beauty.

Since spring might be on the way, my thoughts turned to birds. I haven't used this IO hummingbird image in a long time, so I brought it out. At first I tried doing a marker-spritz version, to get a watercolored look, but it just wasn't working. In the end, I stamped it on watercolor paper and colored it with watercolors. For the background panel, I used the technique where you ink up the EF, run the paper through, and get color on the debossed areas. (I'm sure there's a name for it.)

All the papers used on this card are snippets, mostly in shades of green that seem more harmonious IRL.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- a bit of green

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday -- a bit of green

Double Trouble #211 -- 3 layers, 2 colors, 1 image

The Paper Funday #85-- fur or feathers

Triple B -- bird

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2610 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #742 -- anything goes

Snippets playground #527 -- use snippets (everything on the card)

 

 

Vintage rust

I got a piece of Stamplorations new Collage papers and decided to go vintage on a card. This paper is from the Faded Botanicals set. Since the flower is so pretty, I wanted to leave it largely visible.  I  used sentiments from Stamploration's Bloomfully Remember stamp set, stamped and heat embossed with an old embossing powder I have called Woven Tapestry from Personal Stamp Exchange.  It gives a slightly faded, distressed look to the sentiment and around the  edges of the panel.

To add to the vintage feel, I tried doing a faux rust technique. I found a YouTube video that called for acrylic paint, glue and cinnamon to create faux rust, but the result is an overall rust effect (see photo to the right), and I didn't want that much rust. So I decided to create my own technique. I took chipboard, covered it with Versamark, then applied silver EP and heated it. Then I mixed white glue with some brown and orange flocking material (Oh, the goodies I have stashed away!), applied it to the edges of the chipboard and let it dry. It's passable rust; if I do it again I'd add more of the orange flocking. (Cinnamon would work, too, but since I have this flocking I'll nver use for anything else, why not use it?)

    

This card is entered in these challenges:

Stamplorations -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #742   -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinki'es #2610  -- anything goes

CRAFT #775  -- anything goes

Gem of a Challenge  -- anything goes

Digi Choosday  -- anything goes

Polkadoodles  -- anything goes 

Cheery chicks

 I went cute and country with this card. The chicken and chicks are from an Alley Way set. They were colored with pencils and fussy cut. I used a marker and colored pencil to create the little tufts of grass. The sunflower ribbon adds another touch of cute and cheerful, and the gingham pattern background adds to the country feel.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Make it Cute.

Moving Along with the Times #187: Birds and Bees

The Paper Funday #85: Fur or feathers

Creative Inspirations: cute critters

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2609: Anything goes 

Word Art Wednesday #742: Anything goes 

Triple B --  birds/blooms

DigiChoosday -- Anything goes

CRAFT #775 -- Anything goes 

3 panels, embossed

 Today's card was inspired by the Beautiful Blossoms mood board photo and the Try a Sketch on Tuesday sketch. The mood board featured a vase with an array of purple, yellow and white flowers. I paired a digi image with a stamped sentiment for the focal point. For the background panel, I found snippets of yellow and lavender patterned papers that worked well together and enhanced the main image. After taping the three strips together, I ran them through an embossing folder. (It's called Textile and it's very old -- I think the first EF I purchased. I mention this because a few weeks ago someone posted a picture on FB trying to get info on the EF; since I still have the original packaging I answered. )

This card is entered in these challenges:

Beautiful Blossoms -- florals

Double Trouble #210 -- 3 colors, 2 pattern papers, one  embossed element + TSOT

Try a Sketch on Tuesday #689

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2608 -- anything goes

Crafters Cafe #327 -- for the girls

Word Art Wednesday #740 -- anything goes 

Digi Chooseday -- anything goes 

 

Music fun

:

 

       I found this cute digi image, called IPod Panda from Kitty Bee, and thought it would make a fun card (I read that wired headphones are making a comeback, although I've never completely given mine up). The image is colored with pencils, die-cut with a stitched square die, and matted on a green/red/blue/white patterned paper. I cut a tag from the same paper and added some die-cut some music notes. After figuring out where to place those two items, I black-embossed the sentiment on a coordinating patterned paper and added a ribbon on the tag. 

This card is entered in these challenges

Double Trouble #210 -- 3 colors, 2 patterned papers, 1 embossed element

Word Art Wednesday #740 -- anything goes

Stamplorations -- anything goes with an image

Digi Choosday -- anything goes 

Polkadoodles -- anything goes 

 Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2607  -- anything goes

 

Shabby chic collage

 

The Double D Challenge is to do a shabby chic design. That's not my typical style, for sure, but that's what makes it a challenge.  I made a shabby-chic/vintage collage.

I started with a piece of patterned paper with an extremely realistic pattern of buttons. (Did it fool you?) On top of that I layered white rick rack (which ended up getting almost completely covered as I progressed), some postage themed ephemera, a torn ticket, and an acrylic oval sentiment. Then I die-cut a few Tim Holtz wildflowers and sponged them with light pink and pale green inks.  A brown piece of baker's twine finishes it off.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Double D -- vintage/shabby chic

Word Art Wednesday #739 -- anything goes

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2606 -- anything goes

 

 

Splatters away

 This card features a background technique Ardyth has made a couple of videos about. Basically it involves using watercolors to create loose designs, and adding to the work until you like the results. This background features stripes of watercolor, augmented by stripes of a rosy/gold glittery watercolor. I also added splatters of the glittery gold and navy blue watercolors to add more interest. The background is fun, but it's a little much for a whole card front, so I added a fun die-cut to break it up.

This card is entered in these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday -- spritz/splatter

Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2606 -- anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #739 -- anything goes

A Cut Above -- use a die-cut

Crafts Galore Encore -- Anything goes

Digi Chooseday -- anything goes