The Earth Laughs in Flowers

Yesterday I received the February Darkroom Door swap returns so I thought I would share my ATC’s.  I don’t like to do that until I receive mine back in the post – I would hate to spoil the surprise for anyone!  Don’t look if you don’t have yours back yet.

The theme was FLOWERS and I chose to use this gorgeous Star Flowers collage stamp.  To make the ATC I stamped the image onto some white tissue paper, coloured with Twinkling H2O’s and adhered it to some cardstock (that is the blue you see coming through the image). Once it was layered up, I printed one of my favourite quotes and popped that over the bottom of the image.

It is really hard to see but the image really glimmers, courtesy of the Twinkling H2O’s.

The theme for March is turquoise/aqua – one of my favourite colours so keep a look out next month to see what I do.

Cherish Today

I’ve been keeping a bit of an eye on the Passion for Paper blog of late because the wonderful Kate Palmer (SparkleTart) has been sharing lots of tips and techniques.  (I also applied for their design team so fingers crossed !)

With the coming of some new rubber, I wanted to come up with something that used some of my new stamps as well as Kate’s latest technique, check it out here.  I didn’t have the right cardstock so I thought I would try regular cardstock and it worked ok.

The watermark effect was done with Darkroom Door French Script, it is much more apparent in real life – just hard to photograph! The branch is one of my new favourites by LaBlanche and the butterfly & greeting is from the new Darkroom Door Wings set.  Images were coloured with Copics.

Celebrate

Recently I was inspired by a post on the Passion 4 Paper blog which gave a tutorial on a resist technique.  I created this card based on the technique blogged here.  If you follow my blog you know know that I love resist techniques – especially embossing resist.

I used the Darkroom Door Happy Birthday word block stamp and once stamped and embossed with clear powder I coated the card front with delphinium turquoise Starburst Stain. It is really hard to pick up from the photo but it gave a gorgeous shimmery effect.

The flourishes were die cut using a My Favorite Things die called Fancy Flourish and accented with adhesive pearls.

The flower was made using a stack of die cuts done with the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.  I had sponged each layer with some Distress Ink (Dusty Concord & Chipped Sapphire) and once layered with the pearl brad I spritzed it liberally with some Starburst spray in sweet violet purple teal colour.  Isn’t that just a divine name?

Once totally wet, the flower was scrunched up, layer by layer and allowed to dry.

You can hurry the drying a bit with a heat gun if you want to be quick.  Once dry, just flatten and shape and attach to the card front. The pearlized spray gives a lovely shimmery effect to the flower.

Some more Darkroom Door Christmas

Here is some more inspiration using Darkroom Door stamps.  Please also have a look at my Flickr site as I have uploaded a number of other Christmas cards there as well.

Back to a couple of simple ones now to give your mind a rest. You can probably work this one out without me telling you but I embossed some cardstock with a Sizzix folder, sponged with distress inks to bring out the pattern and layered over a embossed relief from a Spellbinders die. The effect creates a useful ‘frame’ for your focal image. A few words cut from the Christmas background stamp finishes the card.

The card front for this one was stamped with a word from the Christmas Sentiments set as well as the group of icons from the same set.  I left mine in a strip to make it easier to stamp them like this. I then punched out a few circles and layered behind or on top with circles cut from cardstock stamped with the Flourish background.  The one on the left was raised up with foam tape.

The Santa image is from the Dear Santa Vol 1 set and was coloured with distress inks. The word is cut from the Christmas word block and coated with a bit of Glossy Accents.

I really liked this card as it came together really quickly but looks like I spent ages on it.  The background is the Star background, stamped with white Brilliance.  One of the flower layers was stamped with the words from the Noel plate, the ticket stamp comes from the same plate.  A frame cut with Spellbinders dies and a strip of embossed cardstock and it was done.

The ornament image was cut from a piece which had been stamped & clear embossed with the Christmas word block.  I sponged the image with some Distress barn door ink.  A few words cut from my sheet of stamped Christmas word block & some embossing with my Cuttlebug and this card was done.

I think this is the last of the Darkroom Door cards to share and it was really time consuming to do but I love the effect!  The stamping was all done with pale blue pearlescent Brilliance ink using the Noel and Christmas Reindeer plates as well as the French Script background stamp.  The silver edge was actually created with embossing powder & silver pigment ink. 

While playing with the Christmas word block stamp I came up with a couple of tags.  The image was stamped and embossed over some vintage music.  A quick swipe of some ink and and a tie of ribbon and the first one was done.

This one was done basically the same but I added a pinwheel for embellishment using some of the Tim Holtz Christmas tissue tape. 

A Darkroom Door Christmas

Gee, my regular readers will be shocked by another post!  Quite surprised myself actually but I wanted to get these up before Christmas, there didn’t seem much point otherwise!  The post got really long so you will see the rest of it tomorrow. 

Making Christmas cards usually starts early for me when I begin to plan my Christmas card classes for Stamp Art Studio in May.  Usually I try to incorporate the most recent stamps whenever possible but also include some old favourites whenever I can.  Here are some of the ones I have made using Darkroom Door stamps.

A simple one using Dear Santa Vol 1 coloured with distress inks.  The greeting is from the same plate and was stamped & embossed in gold.The background stamp was the Flourish stamped with chalk ink and sponged a little.

I really love this Christmas word block and this is a simpler way to use it than the post before by stamping with red chalk ink. The greeting was done by masking off the top corner using post its and then removing them prior to stamping & embossing.  This is so easy to do and means you can easily stamp up any of the word combinations on the plate.

With so many cut-out sheets available this Christmas, this card also comes together really quickly.  I just cut out the shapes I wanted (this sheet is from Bo Bunny), laid them over a strip of red, stamped with one of the word strings from Christmas Sentiments using crimson Versafine ink and added a few buttons for interest.  The reindeer circle came from the icon strip of the same set, stamped with pearlescent Brilliance to give a bit of bling and the card was done.

A more time consuming card using an old Christmas favourite – the Noel set.  The main image was stamped using pale blue pearlescent Brilliance ink and die-cut with a Spellbinders die.  Believe was stamped with the same ink but embossed to make it stand out a little and both pieces were raised up with foam tape.  The embossed panels were created with a Sizzix folder and given a swipe of Stickles for sparkle.  If you have never tried this, Christmas cards are the perfect reason.  Just squeeze some Stickles onto a smallish, flat surface (I usually use clean milk bottle caps) and smoosh the glitter glue over the embossed design.  If I have used a cap I can just throw it away – no clean up!

Another really time consuming card using a technique from Tim’s 2011 set of Christmas tags.  You can find details on how Tim Holtz did the technique here. I took the basic idea and adhered my decorated fragments onto a card front.  I did the glittery line the same way as the Basic Grey Christmas card below, only I used two shades of glitter. A pearl topped of each of the fragments and the greeting was a Copic coloured word from a Dear Santa word strip.

Overall I was happy with how they turned out but it was a bit annoying to have the slight greyish tinge in a few places where the ink didn’t quite rub away.

Stamps used were the flourish background and the scroll one from the Ornate Elements set.

I love this Christmas Reindeer set and use it so much.  The reindeer is a pain to cut out but so worth the effort!  I started with a base stamped with the Star background stamp and clear embossed.  It was sponged with distress inks in wild honey, rusty hinge & barn door.  The die cut was from Spellbinders and I stamped half of it with the words from the same stamp set. A strip of embossed cardstock covered the edge and added a bit of interest.  The reindeer was stamped in red ink, covered with Glossy Accents and sprinkled with coarse glitter.  I had to smoosh it on a bit to get it to stick.  Once layered up the reindeer looks like he is about to take flight! 

Embossing Resist Christmas Cards

As soon as I saw the Darkroom Door Christmas word block I knew it would work perfectly for this technique.  I love how the words disappear into the background, except for where the embossing is.

For these cards I stamped the word block and heat set it to make sure it was really dry. I then dusted with an embossing buddy and stamped the reindeer image with clear ink and embossed with clear powder.  To bring out the contrast around the stamped image, I sponged with inks or paint.  The embossed design resisted the ink and after a quick wipe with a tissue to remove any ink build-up the image was done and ready for layering.

For this one I used warm red Colorbox chalk ink for that real Christmassy red in both the stamping and sponging. A few pearls added a bit of bling to his antlers. The die cut is from Spellbinders.

This card was done a little differently.  I stamped the word block with distress Ink and once the reindeer image was embossed, I scraped over some Precious Metal Colour with a gift card.  The close up doesn’t do the effect justice – it really shimmers! Once dry, I die cut the reindeer & layered it onto a panel stamped with Darkroom Door dots background stamp in pearlescent blue Brilliance ink. The panel was raised on foam tape before adding to the card front.

This one was done a little differently again. The word block was stamped with wild honey distress inks and instead of stamping with another image, I die cut a stencil using the Spellbinders ornament die, laid that over the word block and used a direct-to-paper technique to apply the clear ink. A quick sponge with some more distress ink and it was done.

I finished the card with a little punched tab stamped with the tree image from the Darkroom Door Christmas sentiments plate.

Inkurable October Challenge

The challenges keep coming at Inkurable Stampers and this time we are to use orange, green and purple plus neutrals of white/black/brown if needed.

This colour palette is not one I use regularly so it was an interesting exercise. As I have a class coming up featuring the batik technique, I thought I would give that a go. It gave me a chance to use my new Darkroom Door Bold Blossoms set.

Essentially the batik technique tries to mimic the look of batik fabric – normally done with wax as a resist to the dyeing medium. In this technique, the image is stamped and embossed with clear ink/powder and the background is coloured with inks etc – on this card I used Distress Inks. Once happy with the result, the piece is covered with a bit of paper towel and ironed with a dry iron. The heat from the iron removes the embossing powder and leaves a lovely 'flat' image which leaves people guessing.

Darkroom Door - Masked Stamping ATC Swap

The September theme for the Darkroom Door ATC swap was to use masked stamping as a technique. I thought this would be a perfect way to use my all time favourite butterfly stamp and a new favourite, the Journey wordblock. As this technique can be a bit tricky I thought I might do a step-by-step for the blog.

I prepared each ATC base using some Distress Stain and later when they were stamped I added a bit of sponging to fill in the gaps. I usually make my bases 3 1/4" x 2 1/4" so I can mat them with a contrasting colour & still end up with the required size of 3 1/2” x 2 1/2”.

I then stamped the butterfly image into the centre of each base.

For masked stamping you need to create a mask - a post-it is perfect for this job and they work really well. Stamp the image over the 'sticky' bit and cut it out really closely. Place over your image, making sure you line up the image as closely as possible to avoid ghosting. Remove the post-it after stamping and apply to the next image.

I then stamped over the masked butterfly with the Journey wordblock using Distress Chipped Sapphire ink.  Once I finish a batch of ATC's I usually dispose of the mask as it is very inky but if you are only stamping a couple of images - keep it with your stamps for next time.

To finish the image I coloured it with some Copics and sponged the edges a little more with Distressed Chipped Sapphire ink. I stamped the word 'Nature' using one of the images from the Garden Inchies set and applied it over the middle of the wings with some foam tape.

The final step was to mat the base with some cardstock sized 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" and they were done!

Inkurable September Challenge

This month the challenge at Inkurable Stampers is to produce an item which uses eyelets.
My card uses the Darkroom Door Christmas Reindeer stamps. These are one of my favourite Christmas sets to use.
The embossed panel was done using some Core'dinations cardstock which was sanded lightly after embossing.

ATC Swaps Revisited

Recently I have been sorting through my digital images of past ATC swaps and thought it would be good to share some with you, along with the techniques used to create them.

For the first set, I have ATC’s created for the Darkroom Door ATC swap from April 2011.  The theme was to use background stamps.

This set used the French Script background stamp along with the Tour Eiffel stamps from the Paris Collection.

The background was made by sponging cardstock with Distress Inks,  I used Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold & Spiced Marmalade.  After sponging I flicked a bit of water over to create the droplet pattern.

Then it was a simple matter of stamping each of the backgrounds with the script stamp, stamping the wording and Eiffel tower and attaching to the background.

I love the colour this combination of inks produces – so luscious!

Here is a group photo – it shows the variations in the background.

A Bit of Publicity & Some Great News

Regular visitors will know how much I love Darkroom Door stamps and if you have visited Rachel’s blog lately you might have seen she had a post this week on stamp storage.  Ages ago I sent pics of my DRD stamp tin storage to Rachel and she has included them in her post.  Check it out here.  But I do warn you will get stamp envy .

In other news, a link to a tag I did recently for a challenge at Inkurable Stampers was included in Rachel’s Sunday link post this morning.  It is well worth following the links from Rachel’s blog – you never know what you will find and the art is usually amazing!  She shares links from artists around the world.  Check out today’s post here.

The great news deserves its own post so I will share that next.

Bookmark Inspiration

The last month seems to have been so busy that I have barely had time to craft. I couldn't miss doing a bookmark for the latest Inkurable Stampers challenge though.  Make sure you have a look at Sarah’s blog this month – there is lots of inspiration.

My bookmark was created using plain white cardstock as a base.  I stamped it with the Darkroom Door Criss-Cross background stamp in pearlescent lime Brilliance ink.  The tag was then sponged with Adirondack dye ink – citrus, pool & lemonade.  The cool thing about the Brilliance ink is that it acts as a resist against the ink and the pearlescent effect shows through.  The quote is from Darkroom Door Art De Fleur Vol 1 set.

Then it was a simple matter to set an eyelet in the top, tie some ribbon and attach some lace down the left hand side.  The flower was made from some velvety leaves & layered Kaiser flowers.

I loved how the colours worked so well together – I hope you do too!

Seashells

While I have this set on loan from Stamp Art Studio to work on some class samples I thought I would play a bit more with a one-layer card.  This time I used a technique from Lucy Abrams that I saw a while ago on the Hero Arts blog and adapted it a bit.

Firstly I ripped a rough rectangle from some scrap paper to form a reverse mask for my card front and attached it to the card base with temporary adhesive.  Using Versamark I stamped three shells in the open space & embossed with clear powder.  Leaving the mask in place the open space was sponged with tumbled glass distress plus a bit of pool Adirondack ink.  The base card is lightly textured so this showed nicely with the sponging.  The mask was removed and a fine line of Glossy Accents was applied as a border around the shells – it doesn’t have to be straight!  Glitter was dusted over and the card was set aside to dry thoroughly – don’t rush it or you will have smudge everywhere :).  The word was stamped with black Brilliance and clear embossed.

One Layer Wonders

Happy New Year readers!  I hope the silly season has gone well for you.

I have been busy of late catching up on some crafting during the downtime that usually comes with Christmas.  It has been nice to play, especially as I couldn’t properly for a few months due to severe back pain.  All fixed now thank goodness!

Just before Christmas I started working on some one-layer wonders – the current challenge theme at Inkurable Stampers.  Here is the card I will send to Sarah.

I used the Darkroom Door Seashells stamp set from the Seaside Collection. Firstly the background was lightly sponged with tumbled glass distress ink.  The shells were then stamped with Versamark & embossed with clear powder.  The cardstock was again sponged with distress inks – this time using broken china & chipped sapphire as well as a bit of tumbled glass (don’t you love those names?).  Excess ink on the embossing was removed with a tissue.  The word was stamped on with black Brilliance & embossed with clear powder.  The small stars were highlighted with dots from a white gel pen.  The card was finished off with some webby stuff and a bit of recycled twine and then mounted onto a card base.

Here is a close up:

While I was on a roll I did another using the same technique and just the Nautilus shell. 

Special Treasures

I thought I would have a go at the sketch for the October challenge on Inkurable Stampers.  There is still time to enter – you have until midnight tomorrow night.

I stamped Darkroom Door butterflies all over a 9cm square piece of white cardstock and then coloured them with Copics.  I then cut the cardstock into four 4.5cm square pieces and arranged them over a lime piece of Bazzill.  The border was punched with one of the new EK Success large border punches, this was attached to the left hand side and layered with a bit of pink ribbon.  To complete the card, I stamped a Hero Arts greeting onto an oval and layered that over a Nestibility tag with foam tape.  A couple of pink pearls on the flourish ends completed the card.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Earlier I mentioned my spot as a guest designer at Inkurable Stampers, here are some images of the samples I created for the challenge this month.

Journey

This arch was a good opportunity to try a new technique – beeswax.  I was really happy with the results and the arch smells so good!

· The arch was hand drawn after looking at a few images online.  It is based on a template by Belinda Schneider but I changed the dimensions a bit.  All images were from Darkroom Door. 

· I started with a white cardstock arch.  The background was made by first stamping the French Script background with Versamark ink & clear embossing.

· The arch was lightly sponged with Distress Wild Honey & Barn Door inks and excess ink wiped from the embossing.  I dripped a bit of water onto parts of the arch and allowed them to dry.

· I stamped the cars from Vintage Automobiles and the words from Prague Vol 1 onto white tissue paper and cut images out roughly.  These were adhered to the arch with gel medium.  The tissue paper allowed me to alter the orientation of the top car.

· The gentleman is from the Photobooth Hats sheet and I used a grey pen to ink the edges so the white cut marks wouldn’t show.  He is also adhered with gel medium. 

· Once everything was dry I melted some beeswax and painted it all over the arch.  Additional heating smoothed the surface a bit.

The next is one I called Destination. 

I came across this sheet of Basic Grey patterned paper at my LSS this week and it became the perfect background.  Once again stamps are Darkroom Door.

· Cut arch from patterned paper and paint with white acrylic paint.  Allow paint to dry for a few minutes and remove parts using a baby wipe.  This will allow some parts of the design to show through more than others.  If you remove too much, just repeat the process until you get the required effect.

· Once dry, paint with Ranger Distress Crackle paint in Rock Candy.  Allow to dry and lightly sponge with Distress Frayed Burlap.  Check out the before & after pic to see the change painting & sponging makes to the paper.

· To highlight a couple of the cars, I used my Copics to go over two of the car images to deepen the colour and then applied a bit of glossy accents to make them pop.

· The border is punched and stamped with the border stamp from Ornate Elements with Distress Chipped Sapphire ink and then affixed to the bottom of the arch.

· The words are from Vintage Automobiles and die cut using a Spellbinders label die.  The diecut was then sponged lightly on the edges and towards the centre with Distress Chipped Sapphire ink, folded slightly and affixed at an angle over the border with foam tape under each side. 

If you aren’t too familiar with the technique of painting over patterned paper – give it a try.  This pic shows you the difference painting can make before & after.