Viva La Verve Week 1 June Challenge

Hi everyone where I live it way too hot to be outside so it is a good time to be crafting. Of course I had to walk over to my storage unit to grab a fan to cool off my "playroom".

I am so excited to be entering a card into the Viva La Verve sketch challenge. I think between Mojo Monday and Viva La Verve sketch challenges Julie may have created a monster here as I quickly become a sketch junkie. Who knew it could be so much fun to create cards using sketches.

You don't have to use Verve stamps to enter the challenge but when you start looking at all their exquisite stamps  and dies you are not going to be able to help yourself. ( I only wish I could have afforded to buy more sets  and that the coordinating die set would have been in but woman can not live on stamps alone.) I was impressed with the quick service. I placed an order late in the evening and the next day it was on it's way to me. Not only that but when I got my order the stamp sets were wrapped like a package using pretty tissue wrapping paper. There was even a die added to my order which I modified for this card. The invoice was no ordinary invoice instead it was like a card printed on good quality paper. The postage also was reasonably priced. Sometimes for me that can be a deal breaker. I will definitely be ordering again from this company.

Enough of my jabbering here is the challenge sketch.

Here is the card I created. I love how it turned out even though it took me longer than planned.

 I pretty much adhered to the sketch but since I was going through my stash and found this cutout leftover from cutting a frame I decided to use that instead of a rectangle.

My background panels are cut from two different prints I pulled using glue, acrylic ink and gesso. I am so in love with these prints and can't wait to pull more prints.

I used Verve Happy Place stamps for the flower and the sentiment. In my stash I had leftover circles which were scored for folding for making Christmas ornaments. I cut the circle in half and used one side for my sentiment and the other to cut out pennants. The pennants were actually arrows but I cut off the tip. I also curled the bottom a little bit after they were cut out.

 It is a good thing I had two sides to play with as I did not realize on this shimmery card stock that my white ink would smear. After stamping I used clear detail embossing powder I am going to have to keep that idea in mind as often I want to use a ink but because of smearing I don't. The scallop half circle is cut out  of scrap as is the mat for the flower panel.

Although stamping and foiling worked it was not perfect. It was really bad at the bottom so a dimensional slug sticker and a couple of lady bugs took care of that.. I used a Palette glue pad  for my stamping and my laminator to adhere teal deco foil by therm o web. To be honest I have not been happy with my results using this particular glue pad for anything I have tried it on. I am going to purchase sticky embossing powder as I've seen that used with stamps and foil. In my experimenting clear embossing powder heated and then foil placed over and ran through a laminator works only if it is not a detailed stamp.

I used a glaze pen for the dots of the flower. Then the flower was colored with chalk. For the background I used a blending tool and Memento Summer Sky ink.

I invite you to join in the challenges. Details are here. http://vlvsketches.blogspot.com

If something doesn't turn out right do you throw it out or do you try to find a way to salvage it?

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Collage Mixed Media Card Challenge

Hi everyone here it is the weekend again. The older I get the faster time seems to go. I just finished today this card for The Mixed Media Card Challenge. This month the theme is collage. Since I flunked art 101 I don't know if this card does qualify but I did use things in a different way than originally intended or changed the look of them. I had a blast making this card and using some things in my stash I've wanted to use but not sure how I was going to incorporate them into a card. Of course you know me I also had to do some experimenting. Drum roll please!

 I started by seeing if I could use double sided tape with therm o web deco foil for my top and bottom border on my card base. My double sided tape is at least ten years old and for some reason has wrinkles in it as well as in a few places I could not get the liner off. It probably got too close to a heat source so the imperfections show in my borders but I think it adds to this particular card.

I mixed purple acrylic paint and Liquitex Glaze in a bottle and using my air brush with the adapter got these neat speckles for the background. I never use some Mister Huey color mists which I won as I didn't like how they sprayed so decided to put the Honeydew color in a bottle and spray. I love how it turned out.  I then took Liquitex Iridescent Medium and dropped big globs of it on my cardstock and used a sponge roller to smooth it out. Alas in this photo you can't see the resulting texture but if you look closely you might see a little bit of the sparkle. Alas I've never been able to get a photograph of the medium but in my book this is a must have.

Since the adapter was out the next thing I did was mix in a bottle aqua acrylic paint,the iridscent medium and water to thin. I sprayed my scrap of a paper doily and then added purple acrylic paint to my mixture and sprayed again.

For my Chinese fortune I tore a piece of sheet music. Glued the fortune to that and glued the scrap of deco foil from doing my border.

I cut out with my eBosser a piece of a disposable Handkerchief. ( The package of handkerchiefs was given to me over thirty years ago and I thought they were too pretty to use for blowing my nose.) I stamped "Smile" using a Verve stamp from the "Happy Places" set. I used Memento Bamboo Leaves ink. I think it is really close to the green in the handkerchief.

Using a frame was an option for this challenge but I thought I would see if I could  cut a frame out using Spellbinder oval nestables and corrugated cardboard. I was not sure if the eBosser would cut the cardboard or not but it did a perfect job.  I painted my frame with ivory acrylic paint when that was dry I painted walnut gel stain over it and let it sit for a few minutes before rubbing some of the gel off with a paper towel.

Several months ago when in the big city I talked a friend into pulling into the parking lot of a dollar store that we don't have where I live. At that store I found all kinds of small shaped beads. I am so in love with the moon, star, and these flower beads. I used therm o web small Zots to attach them to my card.(Shameful plug here but if you click on the banner on the left you can find all kinds of neat products like the Zots which come in different sizes. They really do hold things like the beads here.)

Last but not least we have the butterfly. Using a die cut butterfly as my template I cut my butterfly out of a scrap of the pattern wax paper I created awhile ago.  In case you missed the tutorial for creating this kind of paper you spread glue on wax paper sprinkle ultra fine glitter and then place a single ply of facial tissue which you have colored with an airbrush, color mists, etc. For this particular paper I tore the facial tissue and then placed them in the glue. I took gold thread which alas has a tendency to separate so I don't like to use it in sewing and wrapped it around my butterfly's body.

There you have it with all the mixed media techniques I used. Right now it is still frustrating using the adapter to my airbrush but I'm going to tame that monster as it would be a waste of money to have the adapter gathering dust. ;-)

If you don't do collages I encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and try your hand at making a collage card. The challenge is open until the 25th.  Of course if you already do collages I invite you to also join in the card challenge. I also encourage you to experiment with different medium and get out those scraps or different things you have been hoarding and use them.

The temperature is in the 90's so too hot to be outside so I'm off to play with the Verve stamps which came in yesterday's mail. I'll be working on a Verve Sketch challenge and hopefully will be able to post my creation tomorrow at the latest.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Mojo Monday Challenge #400

Hi everyone sorry I've been missing in action. I am still recuperating from being ill and have not regained my energy yet. I have spent a little bit of time playing with the Siphon Adapter for the eBrush as well as playing with a glue and gesso technique. Anyway when I saw that Mojo Monday had a design team call and one of the requirements is to link up a card I knew that I had to make a card for it. I really hope that I will be considered for the design team as I want to start making cards using more sketches. It is time to step out of my comfort zone and grow as a card maker.

You have until Sunday 8 p.m Mountain time to submit an entry if you wish to play along. All the details are on their blog. http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/ Here is the sketch for this week.

Here is what I came up with.

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time you know that I usually find a way to fix a mistake and use it. I messed up on the background which I had colored with color mist using my airbrush when I tried to use gesso and a stencil with it. Gesso to the rescue. I spread a thin layer of gesso allowing the color to show through. Then with my airbrush and undiluted acrylic ink I sprayed speckles. With the airbrush I was able to direct the speckles where I wanted them and less mess than using a toothbrush. Alas you can not see the sheen from brushing iridescent medium.

Using Memento London Fog ink I stamped my music. I wanted the music to be more subtle than it would have been using black ink.

The butterfly was in my stash. I airbrushed with Spectrum Noir markers and then used a stencil of circles with my clear glitter pen.

I have lots of leftover paper doilies so used one on the corner. Following the sketch I didn't use the whole doily.

My flower was created with canvas paper. I spread glue on a plastic page protector and then dropped Distress Paint and diluted gesso into the glue. I then pulled my prints using different papers. The canvas paper had curled so I decided that would work with a flower die cut. I also used the die cut with my plastic which still had some of the leftover glue paint mixture on it. I cut slits in between the petals and curled the paper petals. Alas the plastic was not cooperative so I placed several square adhesive foam pieces in a stack and placed  the plastic flower on top.I tried to make dew drops with the iridescent medium. It didn't really work out like I had planned but I like the dots. The half pearl hides the stack of adhesive foam and I think helps to tie in the blue color more.

There you have it my card for the Mojo Monday challenge. Even if you don't want to join in the challenge I encourage you to go visit the blog. You will find a ton of inspiration and some lovely sketches. In the past I've used some of the sketches long after the challenge was over. It is a good place to get that mojo if you have been feeling blocked.

I am still playing with the glue technique. This week I also experimented with acrylic ink. Not sure when but I'll try to either do a picture tutorial or a video. It is a fun technique although to be honest I probably like it so much because it is messy. ;-)

Do you like doing messy techniques? Do you ever see instructions for a technique but not have all the products used so see if you can substitute with something else?

It is late so I'm wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!