Musician's Birthday Card

Here is a special birthday card I made for a musician using a great die I purchased at the Mega Meet scrapbook conference in May at the Tessler Stamp/Stencil Co. the great lady there demonstrated how to cut a soda pop can to use the aluminum-another great way to recycle for art! Now I am saving some cans instead of taking them to the store for the deposit return. Copic markers work well on the aluminum for coloring! I may add that I went crazy with die purchases as well as stamps and dies from Heartfelt Creations which had a great deal going on at their booth. The people there were great! I met Emma Lou Beechy who is a real sweetheart. I also finally got to meet my Mixed Media Hero, Tim Holtz! How cool is that?! I will be uploading videos of some of his demonstrations soon.
Drum die from Tessler Stamps/Stencil Co., music background stamp by Impression Obsession, front cover sentiment stamps by Hero Arts, inside sentiment stamps by Close to My Heart. Drum die-cut made out of aluminum and colored with Copic Markers with Stickles used as an accent. Paper by DCWV

Masculine Birthday Card Featuring Ranger Products

This is a birthday card I made for a guy who owns a wine bar, at one time had a unique mustache, and loves music. The funny thing is that he never received it!! That's another story. Anyway I wanted to incorporate his personality into the card as I continue to explore my masculine side. The focal stamp is by Tim Holtz, the drink stamp is by Inkadinkado, and the sentiment is by Hero Arts. The papers are various substrates from Ranger with the unique one being Kraft Glassine paper, a translucent coated paper that is kind of difficult to explain-you would have to experience it to get a feel for it. The latest product I used is the Distress paint that I stamped the mustache with. Its unique formulation allows for manipulation with water while it's wet which is great for blending but is waterproof after it dries! I LOVE this acrylic paint! It stamped with such detail-it wasn't globby as it's texture is thin-perfect for stamping. It is a sure winner. By the way, here is a link to the inspiration-owner of Motor City Wine which by the way has great live music, especially on Wednesdays! http://motorcitywine.com/about.php

Inside

Back

Detailed 

Masculine Birthday Card

I had a funny request this week! My co-worker and friend gave me a card and asked if I would send her grandfather a birthday card because she wanted him to receive as many cards as possible for his ninetieth! I told her to keep the card and that I would make him one. She was very excited that I would do that for him. I never met this man in my life but it gave me the perfect opportunity to use a stamp set I recently purchased called Masculine Collage from Hot Off the Press. It has a steampunk feel to it. I did not have a lot of time to work with but I think it came out nice. I hope he enjoys it!
Products used: Spellbinders labels dies, Masculine Collage stamp set by Hot Off the Press, Timeless paper stack by DCWV, Tim Holtz mini gears, Sizzix embossing folder

Michaels Vintage Christmas Cards Class

Michaels is hosting for a limited time the Vintage Christmas Cards class for $10!
Here is a sample of what you are going to create. Experiment with stamping and inking techniques ala Tim Holtz-what more could you ask for? Look for me at store #9454 in Farmington Hills, MI.

Judikins!

I had the pleasure a few weeks ago of spending time with Judy Watanabe of Judikins at the Heirloom Rubber Stamp convention in Novi! This is the third year I have had the opportunity to learn from her demos at her product booth. She is gracious as well as creative and I absolutely LOVE her inking and stamping techniques. One product that definitely needs mentioning is her MicroGlaze. MicroGlaze is a product that protects your paper art from water. You take a bit of it and rub it on to your paper then buff to a shine. Most use it after working with ink but I wanted to use it after coloring with my Prismacolor pencils. I colored a cute digital stamp bug but wanted to color the background with shimmer spray. So I applied the MicroGlaze with a fine-tipped paint brush and my fingers on the bug only. Afterwards I sprayed the image with Glimmer Mist and low and behold my image resisted the water-based spray! It also did not disturb my coloring with the Prismacolor pencils. Here are pics of the process and a photo of me and Judy.

Ethic Skin Tones with Copics

Here are some examples of coloring ethnic skin tones with Copic Markers. The paper I used is X-Press It Blending Card. I might add that is is very tough to blend the darker colors on this card because the ink starts to goo up if you use to much of it-in other words it does not soak into the paper but sits on top. I am in love with Hammermill Color Copy Paper for Copics but it can be thin depending on your project. However, I just purchased the cardstock version so I will be trying it soon. I hope I love it as much as the paper because I absolutely love how Copics blend on it. I will blog about this topic soon. Images in the video are by The Greeting Farm and Mo's Digital Designs.

As Promised!

Here is the card I made using the image I colored with Copics from The Greeting Farm. I decided on using green hues for this card. The drippy goo punch used is by Martha Stewart. The die cut of the gate is from the Cricut Ornamental Iron cartridge. I absolutely LOVE that cartridge!

Quick Birthday Card

I needed a quick birthday card for a little girl. Close to My Heart makes a good card program book called Wishes. I took the template from there. I always forget about my template resources! They sure work in a pinch.
The flower was sprayed with marshmalllow Glimmer Mist. You can't see the detail-it was lost in the photo. It's a nice added sparkle to the overall project. Greeting stamp by Close to My Heart.

I Would Like Ideas!

If you would like to participate in the creating of my next card, please share your response!

Embossed Card

Materials Used
Ranger alcohol inks, Ranger paint daubers, embossing powders, chalk ink, EK Success border punch, color cardstock, glossy cardstock. Stamp by Stampin' Up.

Custom Embellishment

Were you ever in need of an embellishment but did not have anything to match? Have you ever had materials you never wanted to use again? Try making a custom embellishment. I have a ton of chipboard that goes with nothing. So I decided to try covering it with gesso a material used to prepare canvas for painting. I took a chipboard circle, covered it in gesso using a paint dabber and let it dry. You can speed up the process with a heat gun. I then used acrylic paint dabbers in two shades of green, let dry, then stamped the word hope in chalk ink. See the completed card on the next post!