Card of the Day-Technique Thursday

Happy Technique Thursday dear friends!

Today I'm revisiting one of my favorites:

Wrinkle Free Distress Technique.

You can find many tutorials online. Click here to see my method.

Distress inks used on background:

festive berries, mowed lawn and wild honey.

Inked Mike's acacia branch with distress mowed lawn marker and stamped randomly.

Stamped word Friend  with black soot marker

(from Hero Arts set of 4 stamps, Bouquet of Smiles).

On a separate sheet of cardstock 

I stamped Michael Strong's Cloisonne Giraffe

 in distress abandoned coral. Then I clear embossed it, fussy cut it and attached to card with dimensional foam.

Thanks for visiting!

Mountain and Ocean Direct to Paper Technique

While surfing Pinterest I ran across a fun and easy direct to paper tutorial by Michelle Zindorf.

Since I didn't have all the inkpads Michelle used, I improvised.

On my first card, I used Stampin' UP's so saffron.

Then I sponged some distress spun sugar on top of that for my sky.

Also used spun sugar on my paper ribbon.

Used distress stormy sky and salty ocean for the mountain

broken china for the bottom of the page.

Added distress mowed lawn at the bottom on top of the broken china, 

then a little distress black soot on top of everything at the very bottom.

I stamped the SU Nature Walk  and clear Dimensions Happy Birthday

in Versafine black onyx ink.

This card for my son-in-law was made pretty much the same as above.

I switched to distress scattered straw for my sky.

A friend suggested I make the Nature Walk stamped image less bold

so I used an old Versafine inkpad that was dry. 

Otherwise I would have just stamped off once before applying.

I like how this looks. What do you think?

I changed the colors a little on my third card, continuing with the scattered straw for the sky.

Used distress peacock feathers for the mountain

tumbled glass for the ocean

rusty hinge instead of the green at the bottom

and vintage photo instead of black soot at the bottom edges.

The Stampscapes frond #3 was stamped multiple times with pine needles, 

stamping off a few times to vary the intensity of color.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Thursday Card of the Day

Happy Technique Thursday!

Can you tell I have been having fun with the bokeh technique on watercolor backgrounds this week?
Maybe I should call it the "LH bokeh", ha!
You may have guessed how I did this from looking closely.
It's very easy! I like quick and easy!
 For more info on how I made my watercolor backgrounds, click HERE and HERE

 For "my bokeh" technique on today's card, I used square stamps in addition to circle stamps.

I experimented with several white inkpads.
My ColorBox pigment ink just happened to be nice and juicy.
(my white brilliance pad was rather dry, so I couldn't use that)
I randomly stamped the circles and squares then clear embossed them.

You may have noticed that I clear embossed the circles on Wednesday's Dragonfly Card too.

This may not be official "bokeh" technique, but it creates a fun look and texture, IMHO.


To complete my card, I added some fine twine.
Then, using white cardstock and distress inks, I stamped
Mike's Cloisonne Sea Turtle in peacock feathers,
Mini Shell in wild honey
Mini Gecko in peeled paint
and Mini Starfish in rusty hinge.
Fussy cut them and inked the edges.Attached to card with dimensional foam.
Added some dots of Viva Decor's transparent pen, sprinkling glitter on top.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you give this, or your own variation of bokeh a try!
I would love to see your creations! Have fun!!!

Stamps: 

Michael Strong Cloisonne Cloisonne Sea Turtle

Mini Cloisonne Creatures

Hero Arts Quatros-Retro Squares and Box of Dots

Inks
Frost White Colorbox pigment
 Distress: peacock feathers, wild honey, peeled paint, rusty hinge

Viva Decor Transparent pen with Hero Arts prisma glitter sprinkled on top

Card Captain Day 4

Happy Technique Thursday! to my Enjoy Michael Strong Stamps Friends!

 These my little "techniques" today:
* making my own "tag reinforcement"

 * using an aqua painter to color stamped images 

* making my own "hill stencil".

 Here you see a close up of my "tag reinforcement".

I cut my own tag 7 x 3-1/2 inches from white cardstock.

Trimmed the top corners as shown and used a 1/4 inch punch for the center hole.

I added a home made "reinforcement" by punching a 1/4 inch circle
into a separate piece of cardstock. 

Then I punched a 5/8 inch circle around that.
Glued my reinforcement onto my tag.

To make a "hill" stencil simply cut a curvy line on cardstock scraps-Super simple.
Using this, I sponged mowed lawn ink to create my hills.

Coloring with Aqua Painter...
For the Vase, I stamped it on a separate piece of paper using Versafine black onyx ink.

When it was thoroughly dry, I used an aqua painter and distress inks to color it.
Just dab your inkpad to a craft sheet or similar surface.
Dip your aqua painter brush into the ink to pick up color.
Have scrap paper handy to test out the color's intensity.
Use a paper towel or old rag to pinch the brush and remove color
before going on to the next color.
I fussy cut the vase and attached it with foam tape.
I used the aqua painter to color the  the dragonfly and the cat.

To finish off my tag, I added assorted fibers from my stash!
Thanks, Lynette for sharing your fibers with me!

STAMPS-Michael Strong, Stampers Anonymous

INKS

Distress-mowed lawn, scattered straw, tumbled glass,
rusty hinge, seedless preserves, spiced marmalade, tea dye

Jubilee Card for Sr. Pat

Sr. Pat is also celebrating her 60th Jubilee. Both my Aunt Laura and Sr. Pat are Joliet Franciscans, a wonderful group of women who have spent their lives in the service of others. I just love this order of sisters.

My card background was made with the Embossing Folder Stamping Technique. After it was dry, I distressed the edges, added a flower, leaves and a paper banner for the St. Francis sentiment, inking the edges.

Here is a photo of the backgrounds. I used the Embossing Folder Stamping tutorial on Heidi Wegman's The Reluctant Blogger who also referenced Splitcoaststampers Audrie Magno-Gordon's tutorial.

My Ranger Adirondack acrylic paint dabbers, Lettuce and Pool, had dried out. However I was able to remove a glob of paint and smear it on the embossing folder. Then I spritzed it with water, inserted white card stock and ran it through my cuttlebug. I repeated the process and made a bunch of backgrounds. Though this technique is a bit messy, you can make lots of backgrounds. Just clean up right away with water, being sure you don't let the paint dry in the embossing folder. I used a Sizzix honeycomb folder.