Sunday, August 28, 2016

You're Amazing!

Hello everyone! Sorry I've been away from blogging and making cards.  :/ Its been busy couple of weeks, so I was unable to make any cards.  I had good run while I as on summer break but I had a little mini vacation to Northern California where my boyfriend lives before the start of the new school year.  I was unable to bring my card making supplies as I was taking the train and had limited space in my luggage to carry anything.  Then the school year started so that has been a rush of getting things ready.  Hopefully everything will settle soon, but life has a way of throwing stuff at you.  :P

The inspiration for this card came from starting the new school year and all the tasks educators have to do go get ready for the school year.  I LOVE my job and making an impact on my students life particularly because I work with youth whom have come from a very tough background.  The program I am involved in helps these students try to cope with their issues and build skills to take with them as they move on to their next journey.   Also, to guide them into graduating High School, as many of our students are quite behind in credits.  The change I see in our students from year to year makes my job worth while.  It can be hard a times, but is very much gratifying.

My Favorite Things recently had a 50% off retirement sale! I went a little crazy with this sale, how could I not, it was a steal.  I bought quite a bit of background stamps, which I have been wanting to invest in, this was a great opportunity to start building my stash of background stamps.  I also purchases a couple of the older sets, including You're Super! When I saw this set I had a couple of ideas in mind, but I thought it fitting with the new school year starting to make a teacher one.  I want to build that stamp stash too, I don't have many teacher stamps.  I wanted to make my own "pattern" paper using my stamps.  I used My Creative Time with Emma's, Build a Chevron Background, stamps to do this.  That stamp set is so versatile as there are 2 different thickness of chevrons and 2 different patters to go along with the thick chevrons. I used a medium grey cardstock with Simon Says Fog ink to create a tone on tone background.  I then stamped out the girl image to Copic color.  Once the copic coloring was done i fussy cut the image and went on to the panel piece.  I used Gina Marie Designs Scalloped frames (I used the smaller of the two), because I wanted the inside piece with the scallops for my panel.  I stamped the skyline using my MISTI; it was a solid image so I was afraid I would get a good impression which i didn't in the first go around, so the MISTI was great in having to re-stamp the image.  I also created a mask using full adhesive post-it notes from the skyline.  I masked the skyline so that I could create a distress sky using Victorian Velvet, Seedless Preserves, and Chipped Sapphire.  After I was done distress my background, I used red cardstock to emboss my sentiment in detailed white powder.  I cut the sentiment out with one side straight and the other side with a fish tail.  I then put the card together popping up the Girl image.  Anywho, here is my card... :)


Winner of Makerpop Challenge #102: Encouragement



Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Home Sweet Home

Hello everyone! It's been a very slow couple of days for me particularly in card making. I was having a bit of a slump for ideas, then I saw MarkerPop's new challenge: Anything emboss (dry or heat). Once I saw the theme I instantly thought about doing a emboss/resist technique, but what to emboss/resist.  It was then i realized I wanted to make a card for my boyfriend's mom who just moved back to Bay Area from Seattle.  I thought maybe I could do a skyline of San Francisco with a distressed night sky.  The ideas kept coming, I remembered I have a Clearly Besotted stamp set with critter heroes and there is one image is of a turtle helicopter that could be flying over the Bay toward the San Francisco skyline.  I totally forgot to take pictures of my card making process as I was working on the card.  :/   Sorry! Hopefully you can get the steps I'm going to explain.

First, I did not have a die for the San Francisco skyline, but I do have a Cricut that could cut one out.  I looked online for the Skyline and converted the image into a SVG file (a cut file compatible with most cutting machines).  I used Chalkboard cardstock because I like the texture and color (its has a slight sheen to it) of the black to cut the skyline.  After, I used that as a guide as to where I wanted it position on my panel.  There had to be some water represented as the bay, so I penciled in a line where I wanted it to be.  Once I had an area for the Bay I used the Skyline cut out as a guide for me to put my stars and moon onto the sky.  I used the star and moon images in the set.  I also created a moon mask as I did not want it to be the same color as the sky.  Once that was done I heat embossed it with Rangers detailed white embossing powder and heat set it.  I then masked off the top area of the panel with painters tape, so I could start distressing the bay.  I used a combination of Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers.  I wanted Salty Ocean, which had a blue tint to be the color of the middle of the bay with Peacock Feathers being on the outside.  I kept some areas lighter to create light shadows on the bay.

Once I finished distressing the Bay, I took off the mask and used it to cover the water area so I could work on the sky.  I put on a mask for my moon so that it would not get distressed in.  I used a combination of chipped sapphire, seedless preserves and salty ocean.  The key to doing the night sky is to blend the edges with each color very well.  I went back and forth between the colors until I liked how it looked.  After which I took the mask off the moon and used mustard seed and squeezed lemon aid to distress the moon..  I loved how it turned out because I blended in some of the yellow color into the sky so that it looks like moon is beaming with light.    When that was done I still wanted more from the sky, so I masked my moon and Bay again as I did not want it to get anything on it.   I put some white acrylic paint on my acrylic block and watered it down, so that I could flick it onto the sky to create more stars! :) My first time using this technique, actually my first time making a night sky.  :)  I then heat embossed my sentiment onto the bay, as well as piece down the skyline and my turtle image, which I Copic colored onto the panel,  I had a lot of fun making it and it didn't take too long to make, if I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do this would have taken much longer.  Anywho here is my card...


Saturday, August 6, 2016

MFT Sketch 292

Hello Everyone! :)  I've been wanting to enter in some card challenges, but have been intimidated by all the the beautiful cards.  Also, I'm a very free flowing card maker, so its hard for me to come up with ideas when there are criteria (I'm trying to work on this).  I think I've mentioned before I usually don't have an idea of what I am going to create going into making a card, it usually just comes to me as I work, which makes for a very long process.  I pull inspiration as I create.  However, I want to challenge and push myself out of my comfort zone, I also really want to reduce the amount of time I spend making a card and having a direction before beginning a card could help. I think Challenges can help organize my creative process.  :P

The card I  made is for the MFT Sketch 292 Challenge.  MFT has Sketch Challenges every Wednesdays; they also have other challenges throughout the week as well.  Here is the sketch:


When I saw the sketch I was just about to give up on it as I do not have square frames or any square dies, but I made it work and experimented with what I had.  I used Gina Marie Designs: Scalloped rectangle die.  I measured a 4x4 square and partially cut the rectangle die on one end and match the die up to the grooves to the other end to create a square.  I of course did this on scratch paper first and when I got it right I die cut it on my white card stock.  I wanted to create a frame from the die cut so I lightly outline the inside of the square to use an xacto-knife to cut out.  After which I put the frame on my base to trace the inside square so I knew where I wanted my scene to be.  I used MFT's Sketch Blooms stamp set as well as various colors of Simon Says Stamps inks to create a flower scene.  I then used salty ocean distress ink to ink the background of the square.  I then placed the square frame onto the card.  I felt there was something missing; I've been wanting to use BB Adorable Elephants and thought this would be a great time to break it out.  I Copic colored one of the elephant images as well as a butterfly.  Once the coloring was done I popped the elephant up with foam tape and added some sequins.  The sentiment comes from My Creative Time with Emma: You Are Fabulous.  Anywho, is my card...



Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Art Impressions: Flying High

Hello everyone! :) It's hump day... HUUUUMPPP DAYYY... lol That gets me every time, I am always reminded of the Geiko commercial.  I hope everyone is having a fabulous week; its been hot hot hot here in sunny California, trying to stay out of the heat.  I've been enjoying my summer break thus far, relaxing and organizing while I can; also spending time with the family.   What I have been enjoying most is being able to craft! I Finally had the time to clean out the backroom to make space for a craft area and storage for my crafty items; it was a mess before, but now I have a proper space to put everything, which makes it a breeze to get to.  There still much to go in setting up the space.  My sister is donating her office table and shelving unit to me because she is redoing her office area of her home so that her children could work in there as well.  :)  I got super lucky! YAY to my sister! Until then, I will be working at the kitchen table, but at least I have my craft items stored in the backroom, so there's not a big mess on the dining room table.

Anywho, I was able to have some fun with my Art Impression stamps yesterday.  I was experimenting a bit with the background; it did not turn out how I wanted at first so i had to fix it.  I think it came out okay after, not one of my greatest work, but I had fun creating.  First, I used Gina Marie Designs: Wonky Stitched rectangle die to die cute some Strathmore: Watercolor paper.  I can't tell you how much I love Gina Marie's die's; they are unique in the sense that she comes out with different types of boarders/shapes for her dies, particularly her nested die.  It also helps that the price range is incredibly awesome! Check her out at Scrapbook Outlet: Gina Marie Designs.  After I die cut the watercolor paper I used my MISTI to stamp my image.  I used Art Impressions: Flying High with the lady and man flying in the airplane; it is from the His/Her Series.  Does anyone know if they have names? I've been wondering if they did because I just started using Art Impressions, so when I write my blog about them I always want to put their names.  I had to re-stamp the image about 3 times to get a nice clear (the watercolor paper has a bit of texture, so some spots were not stamping well).  That's why I love using the MISTI, on textured paper like this its always great to be able to stamp it over again to get a better image.  Once I was satisfied with the clarity of the stamped image I used my ziggies to color the images.  I usually use a watercolor brush with i use my ziggies, but I wanted to see how it would look with just the marker color themselves.  Oh man, these color medium has so much color pay off, I had to adjust my color pallet a bit by choosing lighter colors.


 Once I finished coloring the image, I moved onto the background.  I had a bit of trouble with this as I wanted to create some texture using the Zigs, kinda like clouds, but that did not work out and I had to try to find a way to fix it.



I used my aqua brush to lighten and lift the sky blue color I used as much as I could, but still leaving a tint.  I then used my distress inks to create clouds.  It ended up better than before.  I used versafine embossing ink to emboss the sentiment in red.  I used fun foam to pop up the panel onto the base and popped up the sentiment.  Here is the finished card...




Monday, August 1, 2016

Markerpop Challenge: Create a Scene (Art Impressions: His/Her Campers)

Hello Again! :) Trying to get my blog updated with the previous cards I made.  I spent the week with my sister and her kids, so it was a bit hard to get my cards up on the blog.  Love spending time with my nieces and nephew, was able to visit my brother and his family as well.  My sister, sister-in-law, and I made some time to work out one morning before the kids woke up.  We went to a place called Orange Theory, which uses interval training consisting of rowing, treadmill, and weights.  Oh man, did that place kick my butt.  It was a lot of fun though and boy did I get a burst of energy after that.  (I wish I could put emoji's on here, would totally insert some sort of exercise emoji :P.) Well I have digressed from my card for the Markerpop Challenge.


Markerpop has a biweekly challenge on their blog; each challenge there is a theme and this biweekly theme was Create a Scene. I used my Art Impressions stamps and chose His/Her Campers to create a scene.   I wanted to do a one layer card so I had to decide on a layout as there is not much leeway in moving images around with a one layer card.  I choose to stamp the dog first, then created a mask for the dog so that my lady would not overlap the dog, once the lady was stamped, I also created a mask her her to stamp the camper in the background.  I also created a mask for the camper for later use (I wanted to create a distress background).  I used my copic markers to color the images in.



After coloring the images, I used all the masks I made for the images so that I could create the background using distress inks.  I realized I needed another mask for an area in front of the camper where I wanted dirt to be so I hand drew a mask for it.



For the bottom area, I created a grassy area by first inking with twisted citron, then I used cut  outs of MFT Grassy boarder to distress on grass with mowed lawn.  I then made a cloudy sky using Lawn Fawn Puffy Dies (I have stencils made for these as well as the grassy boarder).  I then used gathered twigs to create the dirt area in front the camper.  Once i was done distressing my background, I took off all the masks.  I thought the dirt needed a little more texture, so I used a Copic marker to create the texture dirt.  Anywho, here is my finished card for the Markerpop Challenge...


Update 8/9/16
I had so much fun creating this scene for the challenge and did not think I would be chosen for TOP 3! I was super surprised to find out my card was Top 3.  Super happy right now!

WoHooooo I made it to the Top 3 on MarkerPOP Blog

Cards for my sister.... Prayers & Housewarming

Hello Everyone! Sorry I have not been keeping up with my blogging. :/  I have made a few cards since my last post, most have been requests from family members.  :) Love making cards for my family especially when they have an idea in mind of what they want, makes it a bit easier for me to create with a guide.  :P

My sister text me last week asking if I could make a sympathy card for one of her close friend whose dad just past away.  :( I was really sad to hear the news as I know this friend and have known her since I was a kid, so it was unfortunate news to hear.  I had an idea of what I wanted to do as this idea had been lingering in my head since I received the stamp set, but who wants to make such a card without thinking about of someone passing (sad times).   I usually don't make sympathy cards until I have to.  For this card, I used Mama Elephant's: Organic Blooms stamp set and Gina Marie Designs: Prayers die.  I was on a ziggy craze when I created the card, so I of course gravitated towards it was my color medium.  First I die cut my base from Gina Marie Designs: Scalloped Stitched Rectangle die and masked off all parts after the stitching.  I used my MISTI, since this is a fairly large stamp to stamp the image with VersaFine Embossing ink and heat embossed it with Ranger Detailed White Embossing powder.  Luckily, I used the MISTI because some of the parts did not stamp well so I was able to go back to touch up those areas.  I LOVE the MISTI; so glad I finally got one. this card would have been ruin had I not had the tool.  I then used my Ziggies and a water brush to color in the image.  I was going for something a bit softer for the card.  Here comes the fun part, scary, but fun.  I had been wanting to try in-lay die cutting but with dimension, so I used the Prayers die to cut through my finished watercolor piece (scary because if I messed up all the work that I had gone through would have been in the trash bin).  It worked out though!  I cut 2 more Prayers die cut to layer up and put back into the card.  AHHHH! I Loved how it turned out.  I then picked a sentiment to go with the die cute and embossed it with detailed white embossing power on black card stock.  Here is the finished piece...


My sister also asked me to make some housewarming cards for her husband's sister and brother, who both recently moved into their new homes.  I at the time did not have any stamp sets with the theme, but quiescently I found some on a Facebook group I am in that sells second hand stamps (most of which are almost brand new!) and at a great price.  For these cards I used Paper Smooches: Bitty Bungalows and Avery Elle: Home Sweet Home (for the sentiment inside the card).  For this card, I thought I would break out my Copics, as I haven't used them in a while.  I stamped and color the images, then fussy cut them out.  I saw that I had the inside pieces left of a inside scalloped circle die from a previous card which I used Lawn Fawn pattern paper.  I used those pieces to highlight the houses on my card.  This was a fairly simple card as I had to make two so I didn't want to make it too elaborate.  I used black cardstock to emboss with detail white embossing powder the sentiment and cut fish tails at the end.  I popped up the house to make it stand out a bit.  Anywho, here are the cards....