New Art Impressions

 The latest Bible Journaling stamp sets are debuting today on the Art Impressions blog.  I am using 5375 Grape Border to make a gift tag:

I love finding alternate uses for the Bible Journaling sets, and being tall and slim, they work beautifully on the Art Impressions 5223 - Bookmark Die.  

I mounted the clear acetate stamp onto my block, and coloured directly onto the image with my Tombow Dual Brush Markers.  I used a Sandy Allnock approach, and somewhat randomly coloured the leaves in 2 colours - #346 and #126, and also used 2 colours on the grapes - #569 and #757.  For the few spots where the woody vine shows through, I coloured it in #947 Burnt Sienna.  I huffed on the stamp to revive the colours before stamping it onto my Canson XL Watercolor Paper.  I used my damp #1 paintbrush to pull out the colour, being careful to keep it inside the image.  I scribbled both greens, plus #993, and #177 Dark Jade onto my palette, and dropped them into the image to create multi-coloured leaves.  After pulling out the colour from the grapes, I went back in with #803 to add some brighter tones, and used the #757 marker directly on the paper to redefine any lines that got blurred.  Finally I added some #565 Deep Blue in a few spots to add a few shadows - and that was it.  I wanted a fun, bright image 

The sentiment is from the Roses Exclusive Set available at Scrapbook.com, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black Ink.  I die cut the grommet hole and a couple of the small feathers that come with the bookmark die, and threaded them onto some plum coloured Baker's Twine.  *After giving the tag as a gift, the recipient can use it as a bookmark.  Be sure to check out the Ai blog today to see what Dot & Tricia have to share.

2020 Fall/Winter Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!

 Finally!  It took me several days to get this one assembled, but I am happy to be participating in the 2020 Fall/Winter Coffee Lover's Blog Hop.

Look closely!  I've die cut the word COZY out of the patterned paper, and have layered it with 5 other die cuts to create a raised word.  Scroll down to see it a little closer up.  These are the lovely Winter Market papers from Carta Bella.  I cut out a rectangle, 1/2" in from each side, and slid a piece of very sparkly silver glitter paper underneath (it is SO much sparklier in person!)

I added some glitter snowflakes and a couple of mugs of cocoa, along with the sentiment that I white embossed on the dark grey cardstock.

Wishing you all a Cozy holiday!

Southwest Christmas

I am helping Art Impressions celebrate their 2020 Virtual Warehouse sale today!  There are lots of deals available, and today is the last day.

I have a card and tag to share with you, featuring the wonderful 4787 - Southwest Christmas set!

This is such a cute set, with 6 fun images, and 3 lovely sentiments to go with them.  I coloured up my images with my Copic markers, and used four different Art Impressions Stitched dies to create my projects!  

I love bright Christmas cards!  So I paired my images up with some bright patterned holiday papers, and added a few matching enamel dots.  Don't forget to check out the Online Warehouse sale and pick up what you need to get your holiday projects under way.

Ornate Window

  I've painted a Parisian window today for Art Impressions Watercolour Weekend, using the newly released 5364 - WC Ornate Window Set:

I inked up the large window image in my Tombow Dual Brush Marker #N57 Warm Grey 5, and stamped it onto my Canson XL Watercolour Paper.  Next I created my flower box from the bottom up, starting with the long ivy image from 5007 - WC Foliage Set 3, inked up in #346 Sea Green, stamped three times in varying lengths.  I used the two angled vines in 5126 - WC Foliage Set 4 coloured in #177 Dark Jade to create a spray of foliage, leaving room for my roses.  With #856 Chinese Red, I coloured up the trio of roses from 5258 - WC Flower Set 4, sometimes only colouring one or two, and tucked them amongst the top of my greenery.  Then to add some height and a pop of yellow, I used the tall floral stem in 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 coloured in #991 Light Ochre, again in various heights.  To fill in any white areas, I used the tip of the vine images in #126 Light Olive to brighten things up, and add a nice contrast to the darker greens I used.  I dabbed at my floral display sparingly with a damp brush, to liven up the colours a little, but I mostly wanted to retain the shape of my stamped images, so I left them largely alone.

After masking my window frame, I used the brick image from 5019 - WC Wall Texture Set, coloured in #N57, only loosely colouring the image so that the edges of the brick faded away, and had an irregular shape.  I picked up the colour from my palette, and painted in between the bricks to suggest a darker grout to my brick wall.  I softened all of the lines of the window frame, and painted in the decorative top with my #346 to echo the blue/green colour of the vines.  I painted more grey into the frame where the shadows are, adding some #565 Deep Blue around the edges of the window, and painted it onto the panes of glass, being careful to leave some white areas for highlights.  I went back in with the fine point of my N57 marker to redraw any lines that were fading.

To assemble my card, I cut my scene with the 5063 - Rectangle A2 Stitched Dies, matted it with black, and adhered it to my patterned card base with 3D foam adhesive.  The sentiment is from the Scrapbook.com Exclusive Daisy Set, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black.  And as a final touch, I added some white Nuvo Drops.

Holly Collage card

 Here is my last card made with the Photoplay holly/berries stencils!  

I wanted to try using just a portion of the stencil on my card, so I concentrated on one corner, allowing the inks to fade out around the edges. (Inks are Mowed Lawn and Worn Lipstick Distress Oxides).  I die cut my panel with this wonderful die from The Greetery, and then created my collage with a cluster of pine and berry diecuts.  I used a little Crushed olive ink to shade a portion of my tag, and added the "merry" die from Photoplay's Say it With Stamps line, cut in the wonderful No Shed Glitter Paper in a lovely rich red.

I used the same melon-y pink shade of cardstock for my base, and now have another Christmas card in my stash!  You can find the Photoplay products at the Crafter's Workshop.

Holly card

 I recently got to play with Photoplay's two-step stencils for Demo Days at the Papercrafter's Workshop... and I loved them so much, that I got a set for myself (I have the snowflakes, too - but haven't busted them out yet).  Here's what I put together:  

  

The stencils were so easy to line up - I started with the holly, blending Distress Oxide ink in Speckled Egg, then a little Peacock Feathers into the edges, and finally a little Faded Jeans overtop to tone it down a little.  For the berries I used Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick and a little Aged Mahogany.

The Joy die and stamp are Photoplay's Say it With Stamps line - I die cut the word in two colours of metallic cardstock and then white embossed the phrase onto some black cardstock, cutting it out with the tiny strip dies that are part of the line.  Such a fun card to make!

My Only Halloween card!

 Yes, they're not something that I make a lot of... but somehow, always really enjoy making?  I have a coworker who celebrates Halloween in a big way, and I try to make her a card every year.  Knowing that she is a cat owner, I thought this would be perfect for her:

This stamp set is from Art Impressions, called 4785 - Howl-oween Set,  I coloured her up with Copic markers and die cut the panel with a decorative rectangle die from The Greetery.

Enjoy the holiday, however you're celebrating it!