Home Made Memories

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

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Inspired by a Song

This week's CAS challenge called us to be inspired by this fun song by Little Mix- Wings My first card went more literal. As my kids are rapidly growing up (3 already adults) I think a lot more about how their wings were made to fly....it is right and good for them to be flying on their own even if I sometimes don't always understand quite the direction they're choosing to fly in. I know that wasn't quite the point of the song, but that was how it was hitting me this week. Anyway....I never could get the card that was in my head onto the page, but such it is sometimes!

I die cut my butterfly 4 times with two layers of black and 2 layers of the sheet music so that the backside of the butterfly looks the same as the front. I added some glitter pen highlights and used sequins for the trail. I sponged the sky and tilted my letters similarly to the way the letters tilted in the video.

Stamps: none

Paper: Soft Sky, Black, Sheet Music

Ink: Marina Mist

Accessories: Cloud Moon & Stars Template, The Cat's Pajamas-Lacy Butterfly Die, Timeless Type dies, sequins, sponge, Sakura Gelly Roll Pen-Clear, ModPodge

Techniques: Sponging

I was trying to make a second butterfly card but the spatter got away from me. For some reason the bg made me think of these snowboarding stickers I had just picked up, and of course, those guys really FLY and "their feet don't touch the ground!"

Stamps: none

Paper: White, Island Indigo

Ink: Island Indigo, Marina Mist and Pink Pirouette reinkers.

Accessories: Paintbrush, TPS alphabet punches, Me & My Big Idea Stickers, Snowburst ef

Techniques: Spatter, Dry Embossing

Friday, August 2, 2013

Inspired Vintage

I caught a glimpse of the Tuesday Trigger picture at Moxie Fab World and couldn't shake it loose until I made a card (actually two)! The first was a more direct take on the beautiful inspiration collage photo and the second was more inspired by the first card.

This is the inspiration collage photo....so much to be inspired by!

I made the envelope out of a used larger envelope and used a marker on a tag image to just ink up the writing and used my stamp-a-ma-jig to add the address and return address. Lots of crumpling, tearing and sponging and some finds in my vintage button and sewing boxes. I used a base of Baja Breeze embossed with the Elegant Lines ef with added Suede sponging and some pearls added.

Stamps: Travel Post, Young Vermillion, Kindness Matters

Paper: Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla, In Color Patterns Pack, envelope resized into small envelope

Ink: Stazon Timber Brown, Blushing Bride, Baja Breeze, Soft Suede

Accessories: Stamp-a-ma-jig, Pretties Kit, Pearls, Cutter Kit Distressing Tool, Sponge, Vintage Trim, Articake Charm, Elegant Lines Embossing Folder

Techniques: Distressing, Crumpling Tearing, Sponging, Dry Embossing, Watercoloring from ink pad lids

This one is a smaller collage with the same bg and similar elements in the collage. I added two stickpins that I'd purchased and some natural trim. The vellum strip was cut from a wedding invitation.

Stamps: French Script

Paper: Baja Breeze, Watercolor Paper, My Mind's Eye dp-Blush Sweet Bouquet, Bashful Blue, Dictionary Page, vellum strip cut from wedding invite

Ink: Soft Suede, Gesso and blue reinkers

Accessories: Elegant Lines Embossing Folder, Elegant Butterfly Punch, Natural Trim, art.i.cake stickpins, Vintage button card, stamp, sponge, pearls, wide oval punch

Techniques: Collage, Sponging, Distressing, Crumpling, Tearing, Dry Embossing