Turning the Page June 2018

Tomorrow we turn the page on our calendars to a new month.

I make calendars each year and I've been sporadic about sharing them with you so

I thought I'd set up a regular post on the last day of each month "Turning the Page".

I hope you enjoy these posts.

Here's our June page.

By the way, the calendars are clipped together and can be displayed on an easel

or hung on a push pin or magnetic hook.  We all have a different way to display them.

Happy June!

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Wildflowers (TH)

Ink:   Distress Markers (Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint)

Paper:  Neena 110 lb.

Other:  Slightly damp water brush 

May Flower-Lilly of the Valley

Hello Friends.

Edited to add: Mystery solved!  When I mentioned it to DH, he remembered
putting a different flower in the vase since the lily of the valley was past it's prime.
We have wood hyacinths in the yard and I didn't realize they were still blooming
and that he had brought a blossom in.

I can't believe the month is over already!
I barely got my flower of the month done.

This time I chose to stamp on a piece of textured Crumb Cake cardstock

and color with Prismacolor pencils.

I stamped in the middle of the piece with Crumb Cake ink,

then masked that flower and stamped another on each side.

I used Terpenoid with a cosmetic swab (the kind with a pointed end)

to blend the coloring.

We have a flower bed that has lily of the valley growing in it.

Our flowers bloomed in April this year.

I picked a small bouquet that scented the whole house.

Some of the blooms opened in an unusual way, at least to me.

See those at the top of the bouquet?

Instead of little bells that turned brown, some of the flowers opened

up like other lilies.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Year of Flowers Collection, Beautiful Butterflies (PTI)

Ink:   Crumb Cake (SU)

Paper:   Crumb Cake, Crumb Cake Textured, Naturals White (SU)

Other:  Prismacolor Pencils, Turpenoid, Make Up Swabs, Rectangular Peek-a-boo Window die (MFT)

Dragonflies and Floral Stem

Hello Friends.  So glad you stopped by.

I didn't think I'd get anything done for the 

Memory Box or Poppystamp challenges this month.

But I did manage to get a couple quick cards done.

You've got to love those dies for easy cards!

My first card uses a Memory Box die on a Dirty Pour piece of canvas paper.

The Memory Box Outside the Box Challenge is

Insects/Butterflies/Dragonflies

When Nance and I Skyped with the gals at the Retreat,

we did lots of dirty pour.  Here's a sampling.

Here's Nance mixing up some paint.

Poppy Challenge

I cut into a piece of pattern paper I've hoarded saved in the stash for about ten years.

It sure is pretty paper and looks perfect with this beautiful Poppystamp die!

The die cut was an extra that was tucked into the envelope with the die.

It made for a super quick and easy CAS card!

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe (card 1)

Stamps:  Snippets (PB)

Ink:   Onyx Black (VF)

Paper:   Neenah, Basic Black (SU), Canvas Paper (St)

Other:  Dragonfly Stems Left Corner Die (MB), Acrylic Paint, Stitched Rectangles Die (SSS)

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Agapanthus (TT)

Ink:   Onyx Black (VF)

Paper:   Neenah, Patterned Paper

Other:  Floral Stem Collage (PS)

Remembering

Hello friends.  I'm glad you could join me on this special day.

Memorial Day or Decoration Day is a day to remember
all those who have died serving our country.

And for those who have not passed on, but live with
the injuries and loss.



Poppies are a symbol of Memorial Day.

Taps

Day is done, gone the sun

From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky.

All is well, safely rest

God is nigh.

Challenges:

Penny Black and More: Anything Goes

Penny Black Saturday Challenge: Anything Goes with option of using your favorite stamp. 

My favorite Penny Black stamp is the one I'm using today: Poppies

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Blessings,

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Poppies (PB) This stamp was on wood. I removed it and added cling foam so I could use it in the MISTI

Ink:   Distress Markers (Festive Berries, Barn Door, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Brushed Corduroy, Crushed Olive, Gathered Twigs, Black Soot)

Paper:   Neenah, Coredinations (Ice Cream), Mixed Media (St)

Other:  Water Brush, Stitched Arch STAX (MFT), Foam

Brusho Butterfly

Hello Friends.  I hope you are having a great day!

Today I'm playing with Penny Black.

Penny Black Saturday Challenge

ANYTHING GOES

with an option of using our favorite Penny Black stamp.

My favorite Penny Black stamp is the one I'm using at the moment.

This time it's Butterfly Trio

and

Penny Black and More

ANYTHING GOES

I stamped this gorgeous butterfly with silver ink and heat embossed it

with more silver.

I sprinkled with Brushos and spritzed trying to keep the colors separate

and using a water brush to help the ink land where I wanted it.

It kind of made a mess of the paper around it, so I had to fussy cut him out.

The piece behind him is coated paper, spritzed with water

and sprinkled with the same colors of Brusho and

popped up on foam.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Butterfly Trio, Heartfelt (PB)

Ink:   Encore Silver, Pacific Point (SU)

Paper:   Pacific Point (SU), Coated cardstock, Mixed Media (St)

Other:  Silver EP (SU), Brusho (Sea Green, Turquoise), Foam

A Sweet Merry Monday

Hello friends.  I'm glad you could stop by for a visit.

It's been a busy week, but I did get a Christmas card done.

I have used an Encrusted Jewel Technique for these gingerbread men.

First I die cut from some white cardboard as thick as the die would cut.

I laid a craft mat on my electric pancake griddle and 

put a small piece of parchment cooking paper on top of that.

Then I laid the die cut on the parchment paper and sprinkled liberally with 

clear embossing powder, covered with a corning lid and watched the powder melt.

When I  had a good puddle of melted powder, I sprinkled some 

Aged Gold Frantage on top and let that melt.

Once that melted, I sprinkled some Chunky White Frantage

and coarse red glitter on top.

When that was all melted, I carefully pulled the parchment off and

used a palette knife to pull the gingerbread men out of the surrounding puddle.

I added some small flat back beads for eyes and put back on the griddle

to melt them in.

The gingerbread are quite shiny and look like they've been glazed.

Here's another view...

I've chosen to hang these sweets from a tree.

Merry Monday is hosted by Kelly this week.

I'm also entering at Rudolph Days Challenge

where each month, Maureen hosts a Christmas card challenge.

It's anything goes for Christmas and lasts from 

the 25th of the month to the end of the month.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Ornamental Pine (SU), Festive Snippets (PB)

Ink:   Mossy Meadow, Real Red (SU))

Paper:   Baked Brown Sugar, Naturals White (SU)

Other:  Christmas Bits (LI), Embossing Powder (WOW-Clear, Frantage-Aged Gold, Shabby White), Coarse Red Glitter, Red Sharpie

Peony and Acetate

Hello friends.  Glad you stopped by!

This is for The Flower Challenge

When we did our acetate challenge at CAS Mix Up in March,
I saw some cards where the acetate had been dry embossed.

I loved the look!

So this was a perfect opportunity to try it myself.

It was so easy and I used a piece of acetate from a stamp set.
No additional purchase required!

I found this peony in my UFO box.  It had been embossed and colored.
I have no recollection of what I used to color it.  Sorry.
I do know that water was involved.


Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Peony Bouquet (Alt), Bouquet of Thanks (SSS)

Ink:   Encore Gold

Paper:   Mixed Media (St), Neenah

Other:  Acetate, Gold EP, Victoria EF (Cuttlebug), Stitched Rectangle Die (SSS), Stitched Shapes Die (SU)

Another Butterfly Twofer

Hello friends.  I'm so glad you stopped by.

I have another Twofer today.

I found both of these butterflies in my butterfly box and 

thought they would be perfect for Darnell's Twofer Challenge.

I had die cut them from a piece of Inka Gold Smoosh and

kept all the little pieces intact.

 This little note card will be perfect with a package.

The background was already done and stamped just waiting

for a butterfly to light on it.

This card is a CASE of a card I saw once.  I think that Chrissie (Simply One of a Kind)

did it but I can't find the post now.

I dry embossed a snippet of white cardstock, put a piece of foam behind it,

popped the butterfly on it and stamped a sentiment.

This has been a fun challenge!

Thanks, Dolly.

Some of our CAS team has been at retreat in Vancouver.

I wasn't able to go but Nance Salkeld and I were able to join in with Skype!

We've had fun joining in virtually.  Hopefully next year we can do it in person.

I'll share some of our projects another time.

Supper is almost ready.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe (card 1)

Stamps:  Sentiment (?)

Ink:   Encore Gold, Soft Sky (SU)

Paper:   Watercolor (St.), Mixed Media (St.)

Other:  Inka Gold Smoosh, Kaleidoscope Butterfly (MB)

Card Recipe (card 2)

Stamps: Persian Motifs (Alt) 

Ink:   Onyx Black (VF)

Paper:   Neenah

Other: Inka Gold Smoosh, Kaleidoscope Butterfly (MB), Charles EF (CTBG)

Enamor for the Flower Challenge

Hello friends and welcome.

I'm going soft and sweet today.

I'm playing with The Flower Challenge today.

This little frame needed acetate to pop it up.

So a shaker card was born.

The flowers were inked with markers and stamped on a snippet of Mixed Media paper.

I used narrow strips of dimensionals to lift the framed acetate from the design.

I had seen someone use a powder tool used for heat embossing to get some of

the sticky off the sides of the dimensional.  I have an Embossing Buddy so I used that.

It was awkward and not perfect, but helpful.

I actually think it was good that some of the shakers stuck to the sides

and didn't all fall to the bottom.

The Flower Challenge Design Team has some gorgeous inspiration pieces

at the challenge site and the reminder.  I hope you'll check them out.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Enamor, Happy Snippets (PB)

Ink:   Smokey Gray (Versafine), Spun Sugar, Shabby Shutters, Scattered Straw (DM)

Paper:   Mixed Media (St), Neenah

Other:  Flower Portrait Die (PB), Acetate, Sprinkles and sequins (various)

Bell and Bough

Hello friends and welcome.

My sweet friend JoAnn is hosting Merry Monday this week.

What a wonderful opportunity to ink up this stamp that I bought last fall.

I'll admit that my first try wasn't good.  I'm hoping I can fiddle with it
and improve on it someday.  If at first  you don't succeed, try again.

This time it worked out much better.

I find that I do better with no line watercolor when I ink with markers.

I also find that inking with a lighter color first makes a big difference!

The MISTI (or other stamp positioner) is a must for this technique!

After inking and shading with a waterbrush, I cleaned the stamp
and inked again with Versamark and heat embossed with clear powder.

When I did the background wash (using Distress re-inker), I still had a little bleed around the berries.
But not as bad as usual.

I clear heat embossed the sentiment too.

Thanks, JoAnn, for giving me an excuse to ink up this stamp!

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Bell and Bough, Believe (both PB)

Ink:   Versamark, Early Espresso (SU), Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Gathered Twigs, Festive Berries, Barn Door, Fired Brick (DM), Salty Ocean, Iced Spruce (DR-I)

Paper:   Mixed Media (St), Neenah

Other:  Clear EP, MISTI, Water Brush

Snowman on Skis for CAS Christmas Reminder

Hello friends.

There's just over a week left to join in at CAS Christmas.

I had so much fun creating this guy!

Susan chose a fun challenge at CAS Christmas this month.

I put this stamp from Serendipity in my MISTI and inked him with markers,

using my water brush after each stamping.  I repeated inking and stamping

until I was happy with the results.

It was really fun watching him come to life bit by bit!

Serendipity is having  a blog hop and if you comment on all the hoppers

you're entered into a random drawing for a $20.00 gift certificate.

There's also lots of $1.00 stamps and a great deal on a grab bag at the 

Serendipity store.

Inspriation and bargains. What a deal!

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Snowman on Skis (Serendipity), Festive Snippets (PB)

Ink:   Distress Markers, Smokey Gray (Versafine)

Paper:   Watercolor (TH), Neehah, Pool Party (SU)

Other:  Polar White Flower Soft, Bakers Twine

Rainbow with Birds on a Wire for CAS Watercolour

Hello friends.

Just over a month to join in at CAS Watercolour.

Another Rainbow card for
Loll's CAS Watercolour Challenge

This was a test of using the Acetate Smoosh Technique I used on this card.

It was too pretty to throw away.

I added the silhouette birds on a wire, die cut twice and stacked, 

then framed it, stamped a sentiment and was done.

Well I did mount the design on a piece of foam and attach it to a card base.

Then I was done!

The bird die was a gift from a sweet friend.

Thanks so much.  I love it!

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Snippets (PB)

Ink:   Festive Berries, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Salty Ocean (DI), Onyx Black (Versafine)

Paper:   Mixed Media, Neena, Basic Black

Other:  Double Pierced Rectangles Die (Avery Elle), Birds on Wire (AE)

Stamping with Distress Crayons

Hello friends and welcome.

There's just over a week left to join in at CAS Mix Up.

Using Stamping, Distress Crayons Watercolor, Splash Watercolor, Die Cuts and Inlaid Die Cuts

I've enjoyed experimenting with Gelatos and Distress Crayons this month.

I'm hosting the challenge this month at

CAS Mix Up 

For this card I colored the stamp with Distress Crayons, spritzed and

stamped onto the die cut then moved the color around with a water brush.

(I used the MISTI to do this.  I explain how to stamp on die cuts on this post.)

I repeated the coloring and spritzing until I was happy with the colors

and removed it from the MISTI.

After it was dry, I added details with a Polychromos Pencil.

I die cut the corner of the out cut from the die and adhered it over

a piece of Splash Watercolor paper that was in my stash of backgrounds.

The flowers were inlaid back into the outcut and the whole thing was

mounted on foam then to the card base.

There are lots of techniques you can do with Gelatos or crayons.
We have links to video tutorials at the challenge site
as well as awesome inspiration pieces by our talented
Guest Designer, Jenny (My Paper Epiphany) and our
wonderful Design Team.


Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Blooming Garden (PB)

Ink:   

Paper:   Neena, Watercolor (TH)

Other:  Distress Crayons, Mustard Seed, Festive Berries, Peeled Paint (TH), Water Brush, Polychromos Pencil, Field of Dreams Die (PB), Windham Collage Die (MB)

Butterflies for Twofer

Hello friends.  I'm so glad  you stopped by.

Today I have cards for the Darnell's Twofer Challenge #5

Here's a close up.

I made it into a shaker card.

The acetate makes it look blurry to me.  Or maybe it's just my eyes.

I masked the butterfly to make a row on the next card.

The butterflies on both cards have been stamped and heat embossed, 

then colored with Zigs.

I've also winked them for extra sparkle.

Thanks for the visit and special thanks for your comments.

Enjoy!

Card Recipe (card 1)

Stamps:  Antique Engravings (ret. HA), Persian Motifs (Alt.)

Ink:   Onyx Black (Versafine)

Paper:   Neenah, Mixed Media (St)

Other:  Black EP (SU), Zig CCRBM (#50 yellow, #52 brt. yellow, #70 orange, #31 cobalt blue, #41 lt. green, #44 deep green), Clear WOS, Take 3 Die (PTI), Sequins and clear micro beads

Card Recipe (card 2)

Stamps:  Antique Engravings (ret. HA), Meadow (Inkadinkado), Tulips (Technique Tuesday)

Ink:   Onyx Black (Versafine)

Paper:   Neenah, Mixed Media (St), Daffodil Delight (SU)

Other:  Black EP (SU), Zig CCRBM (#52 brt. yellow, #70 orange, #31 cobalt blue, #36 lt. blue, #81 lt. violet, #43 olive green, ), Clear WOS