My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge

Hi everyone I saw on Sunday a sketch challenge over at My Favorite Things. Only thing is the challenge is ending soon so I had to hurry up and do my project. Note to self when it is close to the deadline don't use glitter glue. The circle for a flower wasn't sticking and when I went to press it down with my fingers the glitter glue on that circle wasn't completely dry. :-(

Here is the sketch for the challenge:

Here is what I came up with:

I started by airbrushing my card base although not much of it shows here. It was good practice for me.

The flowers are a Silhouette Store file,my window I quickly drew in Studio, and the scallop border was also from the Silhouette store. My Cameo for some reason was being obstinate so I ended up cutting things out one at a time. Grr!

The flowers were airbrushed with a Sprectrum Noir marker. Then painted with Iridescent Medium. The circle was covered with Studio G glitter glue. The chenille wire was also airbrushed with a couple of different colors of Spectrum Noir markers.

The background behind the window was a piece I had played with using my homemade color mist on antique calligraphy paper.

The window was painted using my air brush. I then adhered plastic on the back side. So in person it really looks like the cat is looking out a window. Of course I then had to add some lace for a window valance behind the plastic.

I scored the scallop for folding but forgot about allowing for a way to adhere my window box. Originally the window box was going to cover the full length of my window. I painted first Cafe Au Lait acrylic paint on my border. Then I went back and painted nutmeg acrylic paint and dry brushed over the paint to remove some of the paint. When the paint was dry I stamped the woodgrain pattern using Stazon Timber Brown ink.

The cat in the basket is actually a Christmas stamp where the cat is surrounded by ornaments. This was one of my first Christmas stamps. I painted the cat with water color paints. Then cut out the cat with part of the basket.

I then stamped my fairy from I Brake For Stamps. She is painted with water color paint. I chalked her skin but it really doesn't show in the photo. I tried to get a closeup of her but kept getting reflections :-(. I placed square adhesive foam inside the window box and then pressed her into place.

Because the window box sticks out this would not be a good card to mail unless you mail it in a box. I'm thinking of framing it without the glass and sending it to a friend. So which  of my friends who read this blog would like me to send this minature art piece to them? Lol! And not with the idea of getting a free frame.

Although this particular challenge ends in less than thirteen hours do check  out  http://www.cardchallenges.com/ to see what the next challenge is going to be.

I've been so busy trying to finish this card before the deadline that I have not checked out Mojo Monday to see what the sketch challenge is this week. Off to check it out. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Shimmer and Shine + Tutorial

Hi everyone on Wednesday Stampotique posted a new challenge. The theme is shimmer and shine and you know me I love things that shimmer and shine. Only wish that I could get better picture of the cards I use shimmer and shine on. This card is no exception. The photo doesn't really do it justice. :-( I wish you could see all the shimmer on it.

I started by creating my Perfect Pearl background. A tutorial for how I did that will be further down. I then painted Liquitex Iridescent paint over my background to give more shimmer. I wish it would have shown better in the photo.

Years ago I found at Dollar Tree this holographic mylar texture wrapping paper.Alas I have not been able to find any since. I cut an oval out of it for a mat as well as stamped my sentiment on a piece.

I cut another oval out of card stock. I was going to eBrush over a stencil with paint but for some reason I could not get a good flow so I put my thinned metallic paint into a mister and misted it. 

The peacock is stamped on paper I made using glue and distress paints. While the glue/paint mixture was still wet I sprinkled Ice fragments.  The fragments didn't really stick that well but you can see a few here. Next time I'll leave the fragments off.  I used Jet Black Stazon Ink. for both the sentiment and the peacock. Stamps used are by Verve and are from the Moments Remembered set. Wish I could have gotten a better picture so you can see all the detail that the peacock has but there was too much glare.

I invite you to join the challenges at Stampotique. Each week there is a new challenge.  http://stampotiquedesignerschallenge.blogspot.com/

To make a Perfect Pearls background like I did or even the paper for the peacock here are the instructions.

First start by covering a sheet of plastic or a non stick craft mat with white glue. In the picture this is what is left on my plastic after pulling paint with Perfect Pearl  prints. 

I sprinkled three different colors of Perfect Pearls in my glue. Then because the Perfect Pearls was sitting on top of the glue I went ahead and spritzed it with water to get it to dissolve.

Then you will lay your paper into your glue mixture. I forgot to take a picture using just the Perfect Pearls. For this print I pulled I used paint with Perfect Pearls sprinkled in the glue. Lift your print up and set aside to dry. Different papers will give you different results.

There you have it a fun but messy technique to make your own designer papers. This technique works with Distress paint,acrylic ink,Perfect Pearls,watered down acrylic paint, and probably other mediums. For me it is always fun to see the results as no two papers turn out the same.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!

Mojo Monday Challenge 401

Hi everyone can you believe we are already in the middle of another week. It is still hot so I've been playing in my playroom. Lol! It probably would have been better if I was cleaning and organizing it but we won't tell anyone.

I have for you today another card for the Mojo Monday challenge. Here is the sketch:

I made a horizontal card instead of a vertical. Alas it must be the heat frying my brain because I forgot to cut down the scrap of pulled print before adhering the ribbon and adhering it to the card. So my card layout is a little different since it was difficult enough to originally cut the canvas board.

 I read on a blog about cutting canvas board out using steel rule dies. Well while my large flower cut out I could not get the smaller flower to cut all the way through even running it through my machine twice. Since the canvas board did not cut through all the way I salvaged it cutting off the part where I had cut out a larger flower using the same die. I painted the canvas with light purple and aqua metallic acrylic paints. Then used a dark purple acrylic paint with a stencil.. The panel on the right is leftover from the card in the previous post. I thought of using washi tape but decided since I don't use ribbon much and have a large assortment to go ahead with ribbon.

The sentiment is from Verve's Moments Remembered set. I thought the glitter tissue paper the set was wrapped in was perfect to stamp on. I used Jet Black StazOn ink. I love stamping on tissue paper the challenge sometimes though is to adhere it without having the tissue wrinkle. I found a glue stick works best for adhering tissue paper..

I used a Spellbinder die for my metal circle. Alas it did not cut all the way through so I had to cut it out by hand. I used Vintaj swirl embossing plate. The small flower did cut all the way through. I used the Divine Swirl embossing folder to emboss the flower. Both pieces of Tim Holtz metal are colored with StazOn ink.  I used matte StazOn GlazOn on both metal pieces. Then on the flower used my purple ink and then used vintage StazOn GlazOn. When using more than one color of ink or alcohol markers on metal you need to use the GlazOn in between colors.Otherwise your color will wipe off.  The gem was in my stash and already that color. My poor airbrush is going to start feeling neglected so I guess I'm going to have to use it soon in another project. ;-)

Time to go clean and organize once again my playroom. Unless of course I get distracted by things such as the bag full of Washi tape I bought at Dollar Tree a month ago and haven't used yet. Much less put away. Of course I know none of you get distracted cleaning and organizing.

Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again! Oh and be sure to check out the Mojo Monday Challenge blog and even joining in the fun the more the merrier.http://www.mojomonday.blogspot.com/2015/06/mojo-monday-401.html