STENCILED THANKS

Awhile back I needed six "thanks" die cut from yellowish cardstock. Luckily I was sort of neat when I did the die cutting. 

For a long time, that piece of holey paper sat around near my die cutting machine, doing absolutely nothing. One day it finally clicked after I had glanced at it more times than I could count. That is an ART SUPPLY! Yay!

Shown below is my fairly neatly piece of die cut scraps. When I finally took note of it, I decided that it would make a great stencil!

I gathered my Blending Brush and inks in Balmy Blue, Pacific Point, Pear Pizzazz and Old Olive. 

Once I had all my materials together, I started to stencil on white cardstock, doing it in sort of an ombre effect. 

After trimming it to 3 3/4" x 5 1/4", I mounted it to a piece of Balmy Blue that measured 5 1/4" x 4". Then, to pick up some of the pretty green, I fitted it all to an Old Olive card base.

So one of the sponged thanks looked more outstanding, I die cut the thin portion of the word with the Amazing Thanks dies (page 169, Annual Catalog) from white cardstock, then carefully layered it atop the second thanks from the bottom.

The final touch was a bit of bling with blue rhinestones I found on the Stampin' Up! Clearance Rack awhile ago. 

Once again, I loved using something other normal people would have simply tossed into the trash to make a wonderful creation!

Scrap

Smiles.

STRAWBERRY BIRTHDAY

What a fun card to make -- from the start to the very end! 

You all know that I'm a big saver of anything artsy at all, just in case I can find a project to use it in -- sometime. Case in point was a piece that is normally discarded from a really old Paper Pumpkin kit -- I mean years ago,. The one with strawberries, blueberries, etc. 

I had punched out all the strawberries I needed to do the kit. But failed to throw away the leftovers! Oh no! 

Recently I cane across this nifty piece. You will see the piece a few photos from now.

The background of this card used that throwaway piece as a STENCIL!

Using a Blending Brush and Poppy Parade, Real Red and Powder Pink ink, I haphazardly brushed through all these strawberry-shaped openings, overlapping as much as I liked.

Once I'd finished all this, I was absolutely delighted with the background piece I'd just created.

The rest of the card came together naturally.

In the next photo, you can see my card sitting all proudly upon the "stencil" 

I should have thrown away so many years ago.

Here it is standing on the stencil once again. 

In fact, I STILL haven't thrown it away. 

It is perfectly usable for a future project. 

So, why get rid of it?

I knew I had some of that precious retired strawberry Designer Series Paper still lying around. I was excited when I finally unearthed a piece big enough for my needs. So I added a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" piece of this to a white card base..

Using two of the words from the Biggest Wish stamp set (page 40, Annual Catalog), I stamped them towards the top of the strawberry piece in Real Red.

To add a little bit of bling, I added three Pear Pizzazz rhinestones.

Moral of my story: Save your garbage!!

Strawberry

Smiles.

HANDMADE STAMP

Have you ever had a hankering for a different sort of a stamp? Perhaps one that you'd made yourself? Have you ever looked at one of your open dies and thought, "I think this would make a great stamp!"? 

Well, I'm here today to tell you how you can use one of your favorite open dies and some Fun Foam to do just that.

The card below shows how wonderfully one of these homemade stamps work in creating a good crisp image. Focus on the red flower.

Because these stamps are quite thin, you need to be extra cautious when inking them up. If you mount your stamp onto an old wooden block, you don't have to use such care. But you do run into stamping some of the ink you get on the block if used this way. So use caution.

A close closeup of the image I stamped using my homemade stamp:

Go ahead and choose one of your open dies and get youself some of the thickest Fun Foam you can find. Remember that, as you run it through your die cutting machine, the foam will compress quite a lot.

Follow along for a tutorial on how you can make your own stamps. It's easy and lots of fun! 

This tutorial is to make my sample card. Change things up as you wish.

SUPPLIES:

White cardstock

Black cardstock

Black and White Designer Series Paper

Plentiful Plants stamp set (page 63, Annual Catalog)

Poppy Parade ink

Die Cutting Machine

Fun Foam

Ornate Frames dies (retired)

Iconic dies (for the flower, retired)

Matte Black Dots (page 143, Annual Catalog)

Stampin' Dimensionals.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of white cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

To this, add a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of black cardstock.

To this, layer a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of black and white Designer Series Paper. 

To make a stamp:

Using a piece of Fun Foam, die cut it with a die that has quite a lot of detail such as the flower I used in my sample. You may need to run the die/foam through your machine twice so all the pieces are cut through cleanly.

Cut a piece of white cardstock that measures 2 3/4" square (for my stamp). Adjust the size for the stamp you are making.

Lay your new stamp onto a piece of scratch paper and ink it up well with any color. Move the stamp to a clean piece of paper, inked side facing up. Leaving it sit in that position, carefully lay the square of white cardstock over the inked up stamp. Gently use your hands to rub over the cardstock, being sure you don't miss any spots. Carefully lift the stamped cardstock away from the stamp.

Once the ink is completely dry, layer this piece onto a 3" square of black cardstock.

Mount this onto the DSP, leaving even margins at the top and sides, using Stampin' Dimensionals.

For the sentiment, die cut any label that fits well in the blank space at the bottom of the card, In matching ink, stamp a sentiment.

If desired, add embellishments to each side of the words.

Using Stampin' Dimensionals, add the sentiment to the card.

Homemade

Smiles.

#dailycreating MARCH 2022

I'm still not sure what happened, but long about March 2022, my drawing as part of Terry Runyan's #dailycreating group became more of a challenge to me, as did many other things in my life. It was a struggle. This is the time that I spent most of my creativity doing pieces based on neurographic art. I found it so calming and stress relieving. 

Now, in August, I am slowly getting more back into the drawing. So, maybe once we progress through into August, I will have more to show you. Until then, regular drawings will be more sparse and I will have more neurographic based creations to share with you. Please be patient with me.

I have found seven drawings that were semi-worthwhile from March that I will share with you today. As always, I will include above each drawing the prompt, as well as any other interesting information I have on the subject matter.

#national pig day

#thing on thing

indochinese green magpie / vietnam

#world wildlife day

quokka / australia

#off prompt

#off prompt

oriental dwarf kingfisher / southeast asia

#animalurday

coatimundi / central/south america

#myths and legends

phoenix

And, there you have it. 

This is my personal artwork. Please don't use or copy it without my express permission. I have prints -- or can have made -- of many of my drawings.

Non-Inspired

Smiles.

IRIS

I have mentioned it in a previous post, but I will say it again. For Sale-A-Bration (through August), there is a combo Stamp Set/Designer Series Paper called Wonderful World that you can earn for free with a qualifying purchase.

Well, I liked it so much, I made sure I had a qualifying order so I could own it myself.

The card today features one of the stamps (the iris) and one of the papers from the DSP (the background). What a cute combination, eh?

Of course, the star of the show is the pretty iris stem, which I first stamped in Smoky Slate, then colored with Stampin' Blends to resemble an iris as well as I could.

Other than the laborious coloring of the flower, 

the rest of the card is a cinch to put together.

My attempt to replicate a real iris:

Other than the three purple pearls and the subtle dimension provided by a few Stampin' Dimensionals, the card is not just too cluttered with dimension.

Following is a tutorial on how to create a card like this, as well as a list of the Stampin' Blends I utilized on the iris.

SUPPLIES:

White cardstock

Fresh Freesia cardstock

Mossy Meadow cardstock

Wonderful World Designer Series Paper (page 14, Sale-A-Bration brochure)

Wonderful World stamp set (page 14, Sale-A-Bration brochure)

Happiness Abounds (page 109, Annual Catalog)

Smoky Slate ink

Stampin' Blends in: Light and Dark Highland Heather, Light Orchid Oasis, Light and Dark Mossy            Meadow, Dark So Saffron, Light Old Olive

Black Fineliner Pen

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine

Layering Circles dies (page 172, Annual Catalog)

Purple Pearls (page 143, Annual Catalog)

Stampin' Dimensionals

DIRECTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of white cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

To this card base, add a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Mossy Meadow cardstock.

And now add a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of Designer Series Paper. I used some from the Wonderful World DSP pack.

Stamp the iris image from the Wonderful World stamp set in Smoky Slate ink onto a piece of white cardstock that is about 3" square. Color the flower as you wish. See above for the list of Stampin' Blends I used on my sample.

With the die from Layering Circles that measures 2 3/8" in diamter, die cut the colored iris.

Use the next larger circle with scalloped edges with Fresh Freesia cardstock to cut the mat for the white piece.

Adhere these two pieces together and add to the card, leaving equal spacing on the top and sides, with Stampin' Dimensionals.

On a strip of white cardstock that measures 1/2" x 3 3/4", stamp the Happy Birthday from Happiness Abounds in Mossy Meadow ink.

Adhere this flat about 1/2" below the circle.

Add purple pearls to the iris circle.

Flowery

Smiles.