Corrugated Christmas Card

Hi everyone it is not too early to start creating holiday cards. When I saw a sketch challenge on Twitter the idea came to mind to create this card. Although this challenge ends November 1st you might want to check out other challenges at The House That Stamps Built. http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/sketch-challenges/what-if-wednesday-sketch-challenge-o2616

 Here is the sketch:

Here is my take on the challenge:

Here is my take on the challenge:

I started by cutting out my window. If you decided to cut out a window it is easiest if you cut your shape on the back side of the corrugated card. Then I painted with metallic paint. The photo doesn't do it justice. The ribbon has been my stash for five years and I thought it would work for this card.

For the sentiment I used my eBrush for the background and then for the letters. I couldn't get a good job manually using the Sharpie pen and then remembered how nicely the eBrush works with stencils. Especially old metal ones like I used here. I found the snowflakes confetti in my stash and thought they would be a nice touch on the corners.

I eBrushed the sky covering up the bottom where I planned to add the snow. I used the Snow Writer and took a plastic palette knife to spread it out some hoping it would dry faster. I let it sit for a few minutes and then made prints using the edge of the reindeer clear stamp.

The reindeer is a stamp by Karen Foster. Years ago a good friend sent me the stamp. :-) I heat embossed with copper embossing powder. Then painted with metallic water color.

I decided I'll be making a bunch of cards for donating so it is not too soon to begin creating cards.

Have you used corrugated card in your creations?

Thank you for stopping by and do come back. Tomorrow there will be new challenges for me to check out.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Three Trees Another Christmas Card

Hi everyone I noticed while looking for openings on design teams that Shopping Our Stash has a three trees challenge going on until tomorrow night. When I saw the challenge I remembered that I had a stamp with three trees which I never used. I also used the purple and pink from the inspiration piece for the PaperCrafter's Corner Challenge.

Sorry about the little bit of glare in this photo. It was either put up with a little bit of glare on the snow globe and capture the glitter or have no glare and the glitter not show.

I started by cutting my card base from white core card. I used a retired Sizzix embossing folder and after it was embossed took sandpaper and sanded over the words revealing the white.

On top of that is glitter paper I created. I painted Folk Art Purple Extreme Glitter on a scrap of 110 lb card. Then while still wet sprinkled ultra fine hot pink glitter.

Last year I had planned to use the tree stamp in the globe but never got around to it. I started by stamping the globe twice using Stazon Timber Brown ink. Then I took the one globe and cut out the glass section. I then glued plastic from a page protector on the back side.

On the other globe I used the DecoArt Snow Writer. Opps! My snow wasn't totally dry when I glued the top globe so it got squished. Oh well it gives more character.

Originally I was going to stamp my tree stamp directly on the globe but I wasn't sure I was going to be able to use two different inks on the stamp without messing it up. The trees were inked with Stazon Forest Green and the cabins with Rusty Brown and then Timber Brown. Because I was inking a darker color on top of a lighter color I wasn't worried about contaminating my ink pad. I then inked a cotton swab and painted more ink on the trees so they were not flat looking. After I finished stamping I took a silver gel pen and colored over the smoke.

The wooden base is colored using a pencil.

There you have it my second Christmas card. I encourage you to enter challenges and to start creating holiday cards if you haven't already.

Challenges I'm entering this card:
http://shoppingourstash.blogspot.ca/
http://papercrafterscorner.com/

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Frosty Window

Hi everyone I've been busy helping someone move and needed to take some time to relax. I created this card and will be entering it in the 164th Monday magazine challenge. Details can be found here:http://papercrafterscorner.com I will also be entering this in the One Crazy Stamper October challenge. Details can be found here: http://onecrazystampercom.blogspot.ca/2016/10/fallwinter-fun-release-high-hopes.html

 I don't know how long the DecoArt Snow Writer has been in my stash unopened. :-( When I found the High Hope Frosty Window stamp in my stash uninked I knew it would be a perfect image to try the Snow Writer on. I think my sister must have given the Crystal flakes and I thought they would add a sort of icy crystal look.  I was pleased at how easy it was to use the Snow Writer. I've tried other brands of snow and have been disappointed.

I figured it was beginning to be the time of year to bring out my Darice snow embossing folder. I rubbed a Stazon Teal Blue ink pad on the folder indented side. Then embossed as usual.

I colored my snow people using the colors in the Paper Corner challenge inspiration magazine cover.  I had so much coloring with my pencils.

For the word JOY! I took stickers in my stash. Normally I would have colored them with markers but figured the green color was perfect for this card. I stuck them down on deli paper first so I could run them through my embossing machine using a star embossing folder. Originally I was going to keep them on the deli sheet but changed my mind.

My card base is white and since my embossed piece didn't totally fill the base I went ahead and took a Spectrum Noir marker and drew a green line.

One Christmas card done and about a dozen more to go. ;-) Do you create Christmas cards?

Thank you for stopping by. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Happy Birthday

Hi everyone it is unreal my oldest granddaughter just turned eleven. Where has the time gone. I went through all kinds of an idea of a card for her and finally ended up with this one. Now to work on making one for her sister whose birthday is next month just before Thanksgiving.

 I found this image which was designed to be used on a web page for a background and cropped the gradient background so it would fit on my card. I then as you can sort of see in the photo used Dimensional Magic to give my balloons shine and make them more rounded.

I had to change my original layout as my sentiment stamp was too large.  I used three different colors of Stazon solvent ink Teal, Azure, and Royal Purple. Then because the solvent ink doesn't hold embossing powder too well I used VersMark ink. I have an inkpad I use just for this purpose as some of the ink on the stamp will contaminate the pad and may be picked up when stamping a different image. I heat embossed with Recollection Glitter embossing powder.  I wish I could have gotten a better photo as it has an opal look.

 The stamps are from Paper Studio  The cupcake with a candle would not fit in the die so I ended up with the cupcake with a cherry on top. I find it is easiest at least for me to stamp first and then cut my die cut out.

The cherry was colored using a Tulip Fabric Marker. The frosting is gesso mixed with yellow acrylic paint. I did have to take a toothpick to scrape a little bit which had gotten outside of the line off. While the gesso/paint was still wet I sprinkled some ultrafine glitter on top. The cupcake liner was colored with pan chalk and a small cotton ball.

The dot card stock is by the Learning Center. Sometimes I find the card stock at Dollar Tree in different colors.  I like that it is a good weight and one side is pattern and the other solid. The pink was also in my stash of scraps and I thought it would work with the dark pink balloon.

I felt like the card needed something so looked in my stash where I found my single gem ribbon.

There you have a simple birthday card. It took longer for the Dimensional Magic to dry than to put the card together.

I've been doing experimenting with using gesso different ways but alas my experiment failed the most part because I didn't let it fully dry.  I do have a Christmas card in the works. It is not too early to think about Christmas.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Those With Arachnophobia Beware!

Hi everyone this is my last Halloween card for this year. It is not a scary card unless you suffer from Arachnophobia. ;-) Once again I was playing but more on that later.

I was  watching an introduction video to transferring photos and the woman mentioned using gesso for photo transferring so of course I had to go find a video which showed the process.

She started by painting a section of her page in her art journal leaving the middle of the page empty. So I painted on Georgia Pacific white card. It buckles a little bit but not like other card I've used. While waiting for my acrylic paint to dry I printed out this spider baclgrpimd image from Dover Samples using a laser printer. After the paint was dry I brushed on gesso in the middle spreading it out. I then placed my print printed side down into the gesso. Making sure the print was securely embedded.

 The woman had said to make sure you had plenty on to hold the print down secure. I got carried away and it ended up seeping out under the print. So I used a paper towel to wipe it off. I then ended up repainting the border. Next time I'll do the transfer first and then paint my border. 

Then the waiting began. I could have carefully used my embossing gun to dry it but instead I let it dry for 24 hours to make sure it was good and dry. Then I brushed water over the paper and rubbed the backing off like you do in regular photo transfers.   Once the piece had dried I brushed Mod Podge over everything deliberately leaving brush marks for texture. I'm pleased at how my first attempt at photo transferring using gesso turned out.

A friend gave me Tulip fabric markers and I decided to see how a marker would work as ink for stamping on fabric.  After stamping on a scrap of  cotton fabric the sentiment from Just For Fun Rubber stamps I went back and outlined the letters with another color using the fine tip of the marker.  I did cut the stamp apart so I could use the word Happy in another project or have the words all on one line instead of two.

Isn't this spider scary. I just love this spider stamp from Just For Fun. I love how he turned out using Whispers Opaque Black embossing powder. Then painting with metallic watercolors.

I'm entering this in:

More Mixed Media Challenge "Anything Goes Optional Orange"
http://moremixedmediachallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/more-mixed-media-challenge-anything.html

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge
http://mixedmediamc.blogspot.com/2016/10/mixed-media-monthly-challenge-29-mood_1.html

Just For Fun Rubber Stamps Halloween Challenge
http://justforfunrubberstamps.blogspot.com/2016/10/just-for-fun-october-challenge-halloween.html

I hope you will join in one of these challenges or all of them. I also hope you will try new things.

What new technique have you tried lately?

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Mail Art

Hi everyone I saw in an art magazine mail art and thought I would try to create a piece. Opps! It wasn't until I finished the piece that I realized I didn't leave space for postage. So instead of writing the address on my piece I lettered the recipients name so he can hang it on his bedroom door or wherever. I decided to send a larger envelope as I decided to put some coloring pages as well as clip art and other goodies for a budding artist/crafter so it works out putting the piece in a larger envelope instead of on the front..

I was experimenting with Stazon Ink. I stamped directly from the pads on white card stock. I used Brown Timber, Festive Red and Rusty Brown. After stamping I didn't have regular alcohol so I put Vodka in a spray bottle and sprayed my piece. I then while it was still wet placed another piece of card stock on top and ran a brayer over it. My second card stock piece has more of a water color look to it but is more permanent than water colors. I was pleased to see that by spraying with alcohol the ink bled covering the white spaces.  The Festive Red was too bright so since I was experimenting I went ahead and brushed Walnut Gel stain by Americana.  By the way this is a fun gel stain to play with on paper.

I drew the banner in PhotoShop. Then after it was printed cut it out. I went ahead with a black Sharpie and edged it. The mail art had a regular tag for the address but I wanted to do something different. As I said at the beginning I decided to just free letter the person's name on it. I'm not sharing the name here as I want it to be a surprise.

The Happy Halloween is sticker letters which have been in my stash for over a decade. I took the letters I wanted to use and stuck them on a deli sheet. I then eBrushed the letters with a bronze Sharpie. The bonus is I now have the  deli sheet to use in another project. :-) 

I stamped the Just For Fun coffin onto card stock. I used a color pencil to color the wood. A friend gave me Tulip Fabric markers and I decided I wanted to see how they work coloring so i used them for the inside of the coffin.

The skeleton hands were stamped on deli paper and glued down with Mod Podge so they became more transparent..

After everything was glued down with Mod Podge I then went and brushed Mod Podge over everything to seal it.

Have you ever created mail art?

That's all for now. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

The Good Witch

Hi everyone today's card is a combination of three different challenges. I'll be entering this card in all three challenges. Nothing like challenging yourself. Details will be further down in this post about the challenges in case you would like to enter them or check out the inspiration projects.

The Mixed media card challenge is using purple and black with the option of twine. So keeping that in mind I colorized the frame in Photoshop which was a Friday Freebie from Graphic Fairy for those on their email list. I wasn't totally happy with it after it was printed out so took soft pastels to add more color. Then I used a cotton swab to do some blending.

With my airbrush and a couple of Spectrum Noir markers I airbrushed the panel the witch and cat are on. Then I took a star stencil. I debated about finding a metal star stencil which has smaller stars but decided to go bolder. I just used part of the stencil on the top. I used a cosmetic sponge with Precious Metal Gold Leafing. The gold leafing and the markers did not totally play nice so my gold ended up being more of a copper or bronze look. I do like how the stars ended up being outlined. That was a happy accident.

The witch and cat are both Just For Fun Rubber stamps. I don't have any other Halloween type stamps or at least I don't think I do. I decided going with the good witch as I was remembering my sister dressing up a witch and I'm making this card for her. Since the Just For Fun challenge for October is Halloween I figured this would fit in.

Using the mood board for the Mixed Media challenge I colored the witch's clothing using some of the colors. As well as choosing which stamps to use after looking at the mood board. I really had fun coloring with my color pencils. The top of the wand I used a purple glitter marker but couldn't get a good photo of it.

Both images were stamped on scraps of white card stock using Memento black ink. I used a glaze pen to color the cat's eyes.

I debated about adding twine and decided to go ahead and use some Simplicity twisted cord I've had in my stash like forever.  I had some more ideas but like my sister always says you have to know when to stop as sometimes less can be more.

Challenges:

• http://justforfunrubberstamps.blogspot.com/2016/10/just-for-fun-october-challenge-halloween.html
• http://mixedmediamc.blogspot.com/2016/10/mixed-media-monthly-challenge-29-mood_1.html
  
• http://themixedmediacardchallenge.blogspot.com/
  

I hope you will take the time to join me in one of all of these challenges. Thank you for stopping by and do come back to see what I'm up to next.

By the way if you like the new blog header I created in Photoshop leave me a comment. LOl! You can even leave me a comment if you don't like it. No offense will be taken. I promise.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Mummy Dearest

Hi everyone unbelievable that it is already October. That means a new challenge over at Just For Fun Rubber Stamps. This month the theme is Halloween. One of my favorite holidays even though I don't have the trick or treaters like in the past. Here is my first challenge entry.

 I bought black gesso several months ago and never used it. :-( I decided to use it for this project along  with a stencil a good friend sent me which I've never used.  My paper trimmer cremated one side when I went to cut my paper to size so I decided to use electrical tape on both the top and bottom of the card.

My background for my stamped images was so fun to do. I took a piece of cardboard and cut it to size. Then applied a heavy layer of gesso and placed pieces of cut up cheesecloth. in the wet gesso. I then took my brayer and rolled over to make sure the cheesecloth was down tight. I made sure the cheesecloth went on the sides of the cardboard to cover the brown edges.

For the mummy I took athletic tape and placed it on a scrap of card stock. Because the tape hides what is underneath you could even use a piece which you goofed up stamping on. ;-) I'm all about being frugal.  I then stamped with Jet Black Stazon ink.  I used a blue glaze pen for the eye which is peeking out. I could have stamped on plain white cardstock but the tape adds a little more texture and I'm all about texture. :-)

The bats and cat were stamped on deli paper. I used black Memento ink for the bats but went with the Stazon for the cat as the texture of the inkpad shows up on deli paper.  Once again I used a glaze pen to color the eyes.

There you have it my first Halloween card. I hope you will join in the challenge. Details can be found here:
 http://justforfunrubberstamps.blogspot.com/2016/10/just-for-fun-october-challenge-halloween.html

I am also entering this in the monthly mixed media challenge.
http://mixedmediamc.blogspot.com/2016/10/mixed-media-monthly-challenge-29-mood_1.html

Off to look for some crafting supplies which have gone missing in action. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!