Photo Challenge Winner

My photo of Kobi our lab mix adopted from a lab rescue last summer was selected as last week's winner on a popular scrapbooking site.  Pretty cool.

Earth Day Tag

On April 22, more than one billion people around the globe will participate in Earth Day 2012 and help Mobilize the Earth™. People of all nationalities and backgrounds will voice their appreciation for the planet and demand its protection. Together we will stand united for a sustainable future and call upon individuals, organizations, and governments to do their part.

Technique Class #4 - Black Magic

This month's class featured the Black Magic technique.  The only thing I did differently was to go over the colored pencil with a watercolor brush to smooth out the coloring lines.  The results are pretty dramatic.

Never Forget

We are the Hokies.

We will prevail.

We are Virginia Tech.

Photo by Sam Dean - The Roanoke Times

Operation Write Home

Operation Write Home is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), organization that sends handmade cards to US troops so they can write home to their friends and family.  Here is my stash of cards that I've collected over the years.  I spent a few hours cleaning them up, putting card fronts onto card bases and reattaching embellishments that had fallen off.  If you're interested in participating just click the link above to read more about OWH.

Baby Wipe Technique Swap

Back on March 23, 2012 I posted the instructions for the baby wipe technique and at that time that I thought wet paper towels or napkins could be substituted for baby wipes.  Well, after several attempts I found that it didn't work.  It turns out that baby wipes have just the right amount of moisture to simulate a stamp pad. Who knew.  Anyway here is my card swap for the month.

Dazzling Details

For the last tag in this series I sponged the crumb cake (kraft) tag with real red and daffodil delight ink.  I then stamped the flower multiple times on the tag and added a sentiment. The final step was to cover the entire tag with dazzling details.

Happy Birthday Patrick

Crackle

This tag was made by applying crackle paint to the cardstock and then sponging and stamping over the crackle.  The tree is from the Lovely As A Tree set and was stamped with StazOn.

Pearlized Accents

The tags below were all created using a combination of Stampin' Ink refills and silver fox pearlized accent ink.  The technique basically involves applying ink to a craft (waterproof) type sheet along with several drops of pearlized ink.  After spritzing the craft sheet with water, place the tag face down onto the wet sheet and pick up the pearlized ink mixture.  Dry the tag with your heat tool and apply more of the ink mixture until you get the look you want.  I finished the tag by sponging the edges.

Batik Technique

I started by stamping and embossing the starfish image.  With this technique you can either use a colored ink with clear emboss or a colored embossing powder.  After heat embossing with a heat tool I then applied various inks and stamped images to the tag and wiped away the images or inks applied over the starfish.  (The embossing makes the image resist anything applied over the slick surface.)  Below are examples of two other techniques, rusted enamel and resist; all using embossing.

Stamping with Markers

To create the leaf images below I applied Stampin' Write Markers directly onto the stamp, starting with the lightest color first.  When I was ready to stamp I simply breathed hot air onto the rubber stamp (like I was trying to fog up a window).  I sponged old olive and chocolate chip ink over the card stock and the image.  The spots were created by flicking water onto the tag and drying with a heat tool.  Further below you will see different variations on a technique to use markers for watercoloring.

Tim Holtz - 12 Tags of 2012 (April)

For this month's tag I once again used all Stampin' Up! products.  I started by inking and embossing a chipboard bird with burgundy ink and classy copper emboss powder.  I then used a flower garden textured impressions embossing folder on the background paper and embossed the raised portions of the image with clear emboss powder.  I sponged over the image with old olive, distressed the edges and finished with crumb cake ink.  I completed the tag by adding  hodgepodge hardware, a trinket key and seam binding ribbon.  The background paper is called well worn.

Stamping with Craft Ink

The technique for Day 5 was to stamp with a white colored stain.  I chose to use Stampin' Up's whisper white craft ink as a substitute for the stain.  The colors on the tag were applied with a sponge and the spots were created from drops of water that dried on the tag.  The images were stamped using StazOn and everything was heat set using a heat tool.

More Watercolor

This technique for Day 4 involves stamping an image on watercolor paper with StazOn and then painting the image using water, your Stampin' Up! ink refills and a paintbrush.  I then sponged chocolate chip on the edges of the watercolor paper and the textured kraft cardstock.

Brushless Watercolor

I'm taking an online class at BigPictureClasses.com.  Instead of using the products recommended in the class, I'm using all Stampin' Up! products.  Day One included this Brushless Watercolor technique.  Start by applying different color inks directly onto the stamp starting with the lightest color first so you don't contaminate your ink pads.  Then you spritz the entire stamp with water and stamp the image onto watercolor paper.  You finish off the image by heating with your heat tool.

Technique Class #3 - Baby Wipes

This month's technique is really simply but the results are pretty cool.  Essentially you will be making your own custom stamp pad with baby wipes and re-inkers.  I'm thinking this may also work with wet paper towels or napkins so I'll have to try that later.  If for some reason you need to produce cards in bulk or really love a certain color combination, Stampin' Up! does sell an Uninked Craft Pad for craft inks.  If you're wondering about the pattern on the stamped image, it's textured cardstock.

Owl Birthday Card

I made this owl card for my niece Sydney who celebrated her 7th birthday on March 16th.  I copied the idea from a swap card and used Stampin' Up!'s Owl Builder punch.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Step By Step

Here is the card that I made for my acetate & tissue technique swap.  I posted the written instructions previously but thought it would be good idea to show the step by step instructions.

I started by stamping the sentiment directly onto the tissue paper using Stazon.  This was just to demonstrate that you could stamp onto the tissue paper instead of the window sheet (acetate) with the same results.

I then stamped the image onto the window sheet using Stazon.  As you can see my window sheet was much larger than my image to try to minimize the mess. (You can always trim it down.)

I applied the Crystal Effects liberally to the back of the window sheet, added a few drops of ink and used a piece of scrap paper to mix the ink and Crystal Effects together.  You can also use rubber gloves.

After the ink was throughly mixed into the Crystal Effects I turned the window sheet over and placed it onto the tissue paper which was sitting on crumb cake (kraft) card stock. Using my fingers, I pressed down on the window sheet to spread the mixture out under the window sheet to create different patterns and depths of colors.  If you use enough Crystal Effects it will soak through the tissue paper and adhere everything to the window sheet.

After letting the Crystal Effects dry (30 min to overnight) you can trim the window sheet down to the desired size.  If for some reason the tissue paper or the card stock is not fully adhered to the window sheet you can add more Crystal Effects; it won't ruin the effect.