August 22 Stampfest at Lynette's

Lynette and I stamped together on Monday at her house.
She made a wonderful seafood pasta salad for lunch.
Then we made cards inspired by pinterest.
Lynette wanted to make some Scribbly bird cards
like the ones I made here
and I wanted to try her new Tim Holtz small crazy birds.
Note: click on image for larger view

Inspired by Barb Mann's Fish & Coral Card - Old Olive

We changed the stamps and colors. 

 Inks: SU tempting turquoise, limeade

Stamps: Balmy Breezes and unknown SU happy birthday 

Inspired by a card on Jacqueline's Craft Nest blog

we used several stamps to duplicate her pretty frame.

Lynette used watercolor crayons to ink the Hero Arts flower stamp

and used cut outs from the Natural Beauty word stamp by Stampin Up.

The top layer was fussy cut and attached with dimensional foam.

Lynette used my Dina Wakley Scribbly Bird cling stamp set making her cards like mine here.

Inks used for the wrinkle free distress backgrounds that Lynette created:

mermaid lagoon, crushed olive, peeled paint and squeezed lemonade.

I used Lynette's Tim Holtz Bird Talk clear stamp set that comes with 3 birds and matching dies, some word stamps and an embossing folder. This set was from Michaels. It seems that the sets vary depending on which store carries them.

We both used her Prismacolor pencils to color our birdies.

Lynette is working on card arrangement.

Thanks for visiting!

Coloring and Painting Scribbly Birds

Here are some Scribbly Bird cards inspired by Anneke De Clerck's bird card blog post 

and Dina Wakley's Media Painted Tag YouTube. 

 

 I embellished wrinkle free distress backgrounds from my stash:

sponged mermaid lagoon ink over a Tim Holtz' Honeycomb stencil,

stamped Tim's Bitty Grunge stamp with stormy sky.

I made my own 3 circle stencil with cardstock and a  5/8 inch punch

applying pearlescent white Adirondak acrylic paint through the circles with a paintbrush.

 

For the open circles, I used Dina's technique-

dab some acrylic paint on the bottom of a paint bottle and apply it to your piece. 

I also found the open side of one of the screw tops of the dabbers worked even better.

It's a pity my Adirondak paint dabbers are drying out before I can use them up.

 

For the Scribbly bird above, I used card stock, 

stamped it with a BoBunny text stamp in pumice stone.

Then on top of that, I stamped Dina's bird on top, using Versafine black onyx ink. 

When dry I used colored pencils to add color.

 Here are some photos of my work along the way.

 I tried Dina's method of dry painting the Scribbly birds, 

which have been stamped on old book paper.

I used red colored pencil for the tiny heart. She used paint. 

Afterward I outlined the heart with a Pitt Artist Pen 0.1 mm-Black India Ink.

Below are the 3 painted Scribbly birds.

 I added the sentiment from the set on some of my cards

cutting out the lines and attaching with Golden Soft Gel (Semi-Gloss) gel medium.

I used various fibers from by stash.

 

 Pulled out some strands of burlap, making circles to resemble a nest.

Thanks for visiting!

Card of the Day-Friday

Happy Friday!

Today I am sharing two sea themed cards featuring

Michael Strong's Sea Turtle and Seaweed stamps
and more wrinkle free distress backgrounds
using mermaid lagoon, peeled paint and crushed olive distress ink.

In this first card, I stamped Mike's seaweed stamp with pearlescent galaxy gold ink
but it didn't show up very well.
So, I embossed it with Adirondack butterscotch embossing powder,
purposely leaving some granules all over for a sandy, beach look.
The seaweed is still very faint.
Used mermaid lagoon distress ink for the Tim Holtz sentiment.

To ink the turtles, I placed peeled paint and crushed olive distress pads directly onto my craft sheet,

spritzed with water and placed the turtle stamp right into the puddle of mixed inks

then stamped on cardstock.

I used an aqua painter to color the rest of the turtles using
squeezed lemonade for the head and legs
 and mowed lawn for the shell.
Then I fussy cut the turtles and attached with dimensional foam.
Embellished with green baker's twine and gemstones.

For my second card, I stamped  Mike's starfish with scattered straw

and the shell with wild honey, then fussy cut and sponged edges.

Used dimensional foam to attach to card.

Embellished with fun fur and gemstones.

Green baker's twine wrapped on the 1st card.
Fun fur on the 2nd card.

Gemstones also were added.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Card of the Day-Thursday

I hope you don't mind that I keep revisiting wrinkle free distress technique.

It's such a quick and fun way to make backgrounds that keeps "calling me".
 I have two cards to share for the Technique Thursday Card of the Day
featuring Michael Strong's large and small flowers.

I used broken china, worn lipstick and abandoned coral distress inks,
inking a craft sheet and spritzing with water.
For more details here is my tutorial.

 Stamps: Michael Strong, Stampin' Up!

Inks: distress broken china, worn lipstick and abandoned coral,
Versafine black onyx ink
Additional: doily, tulle, fun fur and gemstones

Thank you for visiting!

Card of the Day-Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!

Today's card for the Enjoy Michael Strong Stamps Yahoo group is a sea card

made with a  painted watercolor background from my stash.

I used Hero Arts woodland branches to substitute for aquatic plants.
To ink the stamp, I placed mermaid lagoon ink directly on my craft sheet, 

spritzed with a bit of water 

then pressed the stamp into that wet puddle before stamping.

Reminds me of motion and cool things growing in the sea.

Stamped Mike's Seaweed stamp with Brilliance pearlescent lime.
I hope it gives a bit of depth to the scene.

Stamped Mike's little fish from the mini cloisonne creatures set
with mermaid lagoon ink,
sponged the edges and fussy cut, adhering with dimensional foam.

Added gemstones to the fish and some "fun fur yarn" at the top.

Thank you for visiting!

Card of the Day-Tuesday

Happy Tuesday my friends!

Inspired by a card my friend, Lynette made,

today's card has a layer of embossed swirls on blue that remind me of waves

and a layer of embossed "wood", sponged in tea die distress ink.

My oval is stamped with an old fashioned map background stamp (unknown mfg.) 

in creamy caramel ink.

The small seahorse, shell, starfish and fish are all Michael Strong stamps

stamped and edge sponged in brushed corduroy, worn lipstick, dried marigold and broken china inks.
Thanks so much for visiting!

Card of the Day-Monday

This week I'm card captain at the Enjoy Michael Strong Stamps Yahoo Group.

Today's card was made for my dad's 88th birthday which was July 16.

I used Mike's cloisonne numbers set along with an oval punch.

I wrote the word DAD with a marker, trying to imitate chalkboard lettering.
Stamped a train from SU's All aboard-I usually make a train card for dad because he loves trains. 

Used yellow cardstock for the embossed happy birthday background

which was sponged in pumice stone.

Used ground espresso to stamp the images, sponging the edges in scattered straw.
Card base is kraft cardstock.
Thank you so much for visiting!

Dust Mop Pattern and My Cleaning Buddy

Made this dust mop head for my Libman mop

using fleece scraps.

I wanted a machine washable dust mop instead of the disposable type.

My pattern consists of 3 main pieces:

bottom: 9 x 22 inches

lining: 7 x 18 inches

and 2 short ends/flaps 6-1/2 x 7 inches. 

The mop will slip into pockets formed by these 2 pieces

Above photo shows the layering of the pieces:

largest on bottom

lining centered on top of that

side pieces matching ends of lining.

The inner edge of the 2 small side pieces should be zig zagged or serged separately

before you layer all the pieces.

The"As" mark the spots in the photo.

The short ends are folded over twice then sewn together with a zig zag stitch

as shown by the "Bs" in the photo.

 Trim the corners as shown to reduce bulk.

Then on long side fold over once, pin and  and topstitch to secure.
Your fleece dust mop head is done!
Wasn't that quick and easy!

Now I am ready for my little helper, Gavin.

He has been busy practicing at home.

 He even cleans under the stove.

Hooray, I have a cleaning buddy!