Home Made Memories: August 2013

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Drip-Spatter-Blow

This week's Mixed Media Challenge was to use a water technique to drip or blow ink around on our pieces. I made three cards.
The first card started with a piece of paper I'd prepared using the CitraSolv Magic Technique that Lydia/understandblue shared a long time ago. It begins with a page from a National Geographic magazine and uses a solvent to dissolve the ink and smear it around and then a plastic bag or towel to remove some of the ink. I rolled some white ink onto this paper and stamped the diamond pattern on the right. I then loaded up a brush with water and Island Indigo ink and spatter it around. I used some more watery ink to add to the larger drips then used gravity to drip the spatters down.

Stamps: Clockworks, Timber wheel,

Paper: So Saffron, Island Indigo, Riding Hood Red, National Geographic Page

Ink: Island Indigo, Whisper White, Versamark

Accessories: Citra Solv, foam brush, straw, wet paintbrush, confetti, Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder-Mustard Seed, Marker

Techniques: CitraSolv Magic, Spatter, Blown Spatter

This one features Black and White Gelato ink watered down and spread around.

Stamps: Verve: Hebrews 11:1

Paper: White, Black, Watercolor Paper

Ink: Gelatos, Basic Black, Versafine Onyx

Accessories: wet brush, eyelet ribbon, pewter ep

Techniques: spatter, drip, embossing

Scribbled the Gelatos onto the watercolor paper

Got the black good and wet and watched it run


Added water to the white areas

Using my heat gun to spread the ink down and dry it.

Here's the second card

The second piece good and wet.

Using two straws to blow the ink around

White gelato added over the top

More white added over top some of the black

Wet brush with Basic Black ink used to spatter a fine spray over the top.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Remixed Wedding Invitations

Last summer when we made my DD's wedding invitations we had a slight miscalculation and ended up with lots of extras. Yesterday, I took one and re-made it over into an anniversary to send the happy couple for their first anniversary.

This has two coats of Gesso over the stamped/printed invitation and uses a leftover rosette and pieces of dp that I used to make a banner for the head table at the wedding.

Stamps: Medallion, Vintage Vogue, Verve-Happy Anniversary

Paper: Elegant Eggplant, White, unknown dp

Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Whisper WHite

Accessories: TH Rosette die, 1" square punch for notches, Eggplant ribbon, Matte White Gesso

Here's the original invitation.

The Medallion images were stamped in Elegant Eggplant and we printed the invitation info.

Today's Ways to Use it Challenge was to use angels and I decided to another mixed media re-do of the invite.

Here's the bg with the first layer of toothpaste and the snowflakes in stamped off Pacific Point

A close look at the angel in toothpaste.

Here's the stencil placed back over the toothpaste so I can add a thick layer of Gesso over it.

First layer of Gesso in place and snowflakes stamped. You can see the gaps that the stencil left.

I've added some Gesso to fill in the gaps and now I'm using a wet wipe to soften the snowflakes.

Here's the final card with sentiment stamped, ribbon banners added, and gold stickles accents on the angel and in the centers of the snowflakes. You can see I used the same sketch from yesterday's sketch challenge.

Stamps: Medallion in bg, Inkadinkado-Snowflake, Hampton Arts-sentiment

Paper: White, Elegant Eggplant

Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise reinker

Accessories: Gesso, Plaid angel stencil, gold stickles, toothpaste, Whisper White Organza Ribbon, gold mesh, purple ribbon

Techniques: Mixed Media, Stencilling

Monday, August 26, 2013

Viva La Verve sketch meets Strong Anchor

I decided to play along with Verve's August Sketch Challenges and try to feature some of the Verve stamps I won through participating in the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges on splitcoaststampers.com. These two cards use this fun sketch and use the same stamp sets, dies and colors.

Here are the two cards I made using the Verve set Strong Anchor with matching Nautical dies as well as the SU set The Open Sea.

I masked the edges of my dp and stamped the rope frame and added this layer to the sketch. The anchor is stamped in Island Indigo on Natural Ivory and has sponged Soft Sued accents. I tied a series of knots in some chunky twine as an accent.

Stamps: The Open Sea, Verve: Strong Anchor

Paper: Textured Soft Suede, Island Indigo, Natural Ivory, Soft Sky, retired hostess pack dp

Ink: Soft Suede, Island Indigo

Accessories: Houndstooth ef, Corner Rounder punch, CM Oval Cutting System, Verve Nautical Dies, Stampin' Dimensionals, sponge, twine

Techniques: Masking, Sponging, Dry Embossing


This one stays truer to the sketch and has an eyelet accented ship's wheel and sponged sky on the image panel. My oval is larger on this one as it the whole card.

Stamps: The Open Sea, Verve: Strong Anchor

Paper: Soft Suede, Island Indigo, Natural Ivory, Whisper White

Ink: Soft Suede, Versafine Smoky Slate, Midnight Muse, Island Indigo

Accessories: Houndstooth ef, Corner Rounder punch, CM Oval Cutting System, Verve Nautical Dies, Metallic Eyelets, Cropadile, Stampin' Dimensionals, Cloud Moon & Stars template, sponge

Techniques: Sponging, Dry Embossing

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Road Trip!

This week's CAS Challenge is a theme challenge based on the theme-Road Trip. I used some new toys for the challenge-a new stamp set and a punch to go along with it.
For my sample card, I decided to make a stencil and create a one layer card. I used my hexagon punch and a sheet of acetate to create a mask that I can use again. I then sponged my bright colors for my first "layer." I stamped some images in between the hexagons. My second "layer" was stamped black images. I did cheat just a bit by framing in black and using a colored base, but this is basically a one layer card.

Stamps: Around the World

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink: Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Gumball Green, Pacific Point, Real Red, Basic Black

Accessories: Hexagon punch, sponge

Techniques: Masking, Sponging

Read more: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/2415885#ixzz2d2WM2dcO
For my second card, I decided to try my hand at freestyle collage. I used the same stamp set but stamped then punched my images. I used a strip of Chevron embossed black as my leap off point popping the images and adding an arrow clip. I accented with some stickers and a couple of shapes in complementary colors, then stamped a couple of sentiments to round it off. Not sure how successful this is as a CAS card, but I like the look.

Stamps: Around the World

Paper: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White, Crisp Cantaloupe, Gumball Green, Pool Party, Real Red, Basic Black

Ink: Real Red, Bermuda Bay, Basic Black,

Accessories: Corner Rounder, Hexagon, 3/4", 1", 1 1/4" circle punches, Chevron embossing folder, Hang Up clips, Stampin' Dimensionals, Epic Day This and That Stickers

Techniques: Masking, Sponging, Freestyle Collage

Read more: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/2415943#ixzz2d2chGWGq And here's a couple more with similar theme that are definitely NOT Clean and Simple. I made these during the Dare to Get Dirty Challenges.

Stamps: Petite Pairs

Paper: Not Quite Navy, More Mustard, Cherry Cobbler, Pear Pizzazz. Bo Bunny-Detour Icons and SImple Stories-Jet Set

Ink: Not Quite Navy, Versafine Onyx

Accessories: various circle punches, photo corner punch, square lattice ef, cutter kit distressing tool, dimensionals, Tim Holtz Steampunk ef

Techniques: Distressing, Crumpling, Sponging, Tearing

Stamps: Lean On Me, Studio G Chevron

Paper: Sahara Sand, Not Quite Navy, More Mustard, Old Olive, Pear PIzzazz, Cherry Cobbler, Real Red, Black, envelope scrap, Bo Bunny-detour, Simple Stories-Urband Traveler

Ink: Versafine Onyx,

Accessories: Various circle punches, Chevron ef,

Techniques: Dry Embossing

Read more: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/2406120#ixzz2d2aNTrEi
I also did a Mixed Media card a while back with the same theme.

Stamps: Rough Texture Wheel, Studio G alphabet

Paper: Riding Hood Red, Vintage Violet, Map piece, October Afternoon dp

Ink: Soft Suede, Basic Black, Night of Navy

Accessories: Bitty Banners framelits, 1 3/4" circle punch, sponge, Vintaj Forgotten Times, Cropadile, metal key accent, Martha Stewart tags, Little Yellow Bicycle-wood shape, sponge, sanding block

Techniques: Sponging

Friday, August 23, 2013

More Mixed Media

Friday has become my mixed media day as I like to play in the Mixability Challenges on splitcoaststampers.com. Today our challenge was to use fabric. I also like to play along in the Queen for the Day Challenge and we are currently reviewing past queens. I chose to CASE a beautiful mixed media card by Lee-Anne/Shadow's Mom.

It looked like Lee-Anne used a print dp, but I went with a dictionary page. I used white Gesso as my base coat then used my foam brush to dab some Grey Gesso through wire mesh. I didn't do so well on my first try so I wiped off the grey mess and tried again. As I wiped with an old wipe that had blue ink on it, the blue bled into the Gesso-how cool is that! I added a bit more Island Indigo along the edges and also stamped my image and sentiment in the same. My fabric piece is a denim strip and a rolled denim flower. I simply snipped my strip about every 1/4" and then rolled it up and smooshed it onto a circle of sticky sheet.

Stamps: Stamper's Anonymous - Studio 490 Small Stamp Set - Homemade Art

Paper: Black, Dictionary Page

Ink: Island Indigo

Accessories: White and Grey Gesso, foam brush, wire mesh, sponge, sticky page, denim strip, Stickles

Techniques: Rolled Fabric Flower, Sponging, Stencil, Mixed Media

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Simply Pressed Christmas

My 10 year old daughter pleaded with me to buy the new Simply Pressed Clay and when I saw this awesome tutorial, I just had to try playing around with it today. I also used a sketch from Verve and CASEd a card from Denise aka resqbarbie's gallery.


Here's the final card-I used less layers than the sketch and took the stamp set and colors from Denise's card.

Stamps: Peaceful Wishes

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Bells & Boughs dp

Ink: Always Artichoke, Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler, Versamark

Accessories: Markers, Simply Pressed Clay, 1 1/4" and 1"square punches to notch, sponge, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke and Very Vanilla seam binding, Stampin' Dimensionals, Sticky Strip, Glue dots, sewing machine

Techniques: Sewing, Fork Bow, Sponging

I used markers in the imprinted stamping before I air dried the clay piece. I sponged Soft Suede around the edges after it was dry and used sticky strip to attach it to a die cut Cherry Cobbler circle.

I made three fork bows in my featured colors and used glue dots to tack them onto my notched banner.

I could have rolled the clay a bit flatter I think, but it was my first try and I wanted to be sure I left it thick enough to be able to imprint. It is light as a feather though!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Painting with Markers

I had new goodies from winning a prize from last month's Dare to Get Dirty challenges and thought I'd use them to play along with today's color challenge which features 5 bright colors: Strawberry Slush, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Daffodil Delight, and Pumpkin Pie. The sentiment I wanted to use spoke about nature and seasons so I pulled out an old retired SU stamp set for my images. Because the challenge colors didn't include any browns or greens, I decided to use markers to color my image. I scribbled onto acetate and used a wet brush to mix some and to use the main colors.

Watercoloring with markers is a great way to extend your color palette and to soften the colors a bit by adding more water.

Stamps: Nature's Seasonal Borders, Verve-Every Season

Paper: Pool Party, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Island Indigo

Ink: Versafine Onyx, Island Indigo, Strawberry Slush

Accessories: Subtles candy dots, Markers-Pumpkin Pie, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Island Indigo, Paintbrush, Verve-rectangular frame die

Techniques: Watercoloring with Markers and ink from ink pad lid

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Paint It Up!

This week's CAS Challenge is a limited supplies challenge where we were to set the ink aside and use paint or watercolors instead. I went with paints, and here's what I came up with!

I used my Espresso paint dauber to ink up my leaves then stamped this onto the Canvas bg stamp to add some texture. I used Cloudy Blue ink for my sentiment. Last addition was a twine knot before I put my Whisper White piece onto an Early Espresso base.

Stamps: Secret Garden, Thoughts & Prayers, Canvas

Paper: Early Espresso, Whisper White

Ink: none

Accessories: Paint Daubers: Adirondak Cloudy Blue and Espresso, Twine

Techniques: Stamp Kissing


This one is painted through a reverse of a butterfly die cut. I then laid the butterfly over the top of the blue and painted white accents through it. I used a silver Stampin' Dazzle marker to add some more accents. Stamped my sentiment with grey paint dauber and finished with a strip of Washi tape.

Here's another photo of the same card-the silver accents show up very differently in different light.

This was actually my first card, but I wasn't thrilled with it. My son cringed when I showed him this card...I'm not usually one who makes humorous cards, but I wanted to make a birthday card for a man at our church who always shares his excess sweet corn with us. My kids call him "Sweet Lowell." I used the eraser end of a pencil with two colors of yellow to paint my corn kernels. I used a brush to paint the husks. When this was dry, I used a pencil to add details. My sentiment is punched letters.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Crack & Stitch

Today's Mixability Challenge asked us to Crack & Stitch-Here's version #1 where I'd forgotten the stitch part.

I pulled my panel off, cut the edges just a tad then used a zig zag stitch to stitch it onto a Soft Suede frame. I added eyelet and an vertical seam binding piece and glued my bow over that.

I used Ranger Distress Crackle Paint over my stamped and watercolored image. I sponged Soft Suede ink to bring out the crackle more.

You can also see the embossing on the dp if you look closely. I also sponged over this in Suede.

You can see by the man's head where my paint was a little thick and bubbled up when I took a heat gun to speed up the process. I sanded over this area a bit.

Stamps: SU-Summer by the Sea (sentiment), My Mind's Eye-Boys Stamps, Great Impressions-image

Paper: Baja Breeze, Soft Suede, Everyday Enchantment dp, Riding Hood Red, Natural Ivory

Ink: Versafine Onyx, Soft Suede, Versamark

Accessories: Markers, Paint Brush, Sponge, Nestabilities-Circles and Labels 9 dies, 1 3/8" & 1 3/4" circle punches, Baja Breeze seam binding, pearls, stampin' dimensionals, Early Espresso ep, Ranger Distress Crackle Paint-Clear Rock Candy, Distressed Tex

Techniques: Crackle, Sponging, Distressing, Dry Embossing, Embossing

Sunday, August 11, 2013

CASEing a CAS Challenge Alumni

This week Denise chose to honor a CAS Challenge alumni-Harriet/hskelly. She has an awesome gallery filled with great CAS layouts and loads of inspiration. I chose to CASE this beautiful card of Harriet's. I loved the curved color blocking as well as the diagonal scoring on the base. I had the perfect scrap lying on my desk from sponging sun rays on a previous card and then that yellow scrap got spattered with some blue ink, so I went from there.

I added Bermuda Bay sponging to the bottom, more Crushed Curry to the middle and right, and Soft Sky in the center right. When I sent to score my base, my stylus skipped and made a random line so I just went with the random look and added to it, sponging with Soft Sky and bit of Bermuda. I stamped my Scripture in Bermuda as well.

Stamps: Words of Wisdom

Paper: Soft Sky, Whisper White

Ink: Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Sky, Bermuda Bay

Accessories: sponge, wet paint brush, Diagonal Scoring Plate and Scoring Board, Stylus

Techniques: Sponging, Spatter, Scoring

Read more: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/2410662#ixzz2biVf3U00

My second card is a much more literal CASE of this pretty card of Harriet's. (You know it was a winning look when all three of the CAS designers chose to CASE it!) I stamped my bg instead of using a piece of dp. I started by stamping Sanded repeatedly in Basic Black. I then stamped my solid images in Versamark over that and embossed in white. I popped my circle-window panel over this using dimensionals. I punched my polka dot butterfly and used pearls for the body. I stamped my sentiment and used a square punch to notch the ends. It was hard to see the details, so I used a black marker brushed along the edges to add definition.

*I wasn't completely thrilled with the 2nd card so when I saw today's TLC Challenge, I revamped the card.

This is the outside of my card-you can see that I lowered the window this time-I hadn't liked the placement on the first card. I framed my window with a black circle frame and placed my butterfly back on.

On the inside, I framed my design in black and added my banner.

Stamps: Secret Garden, Sanded, Happiest Birthday Wishes

Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, patterns pack dp

Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: Elegant Butterfly punch, pearls, White ep, 3/4" square punch

Techniques: masking, embossing

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