His & Hers

 Just a couple of super quick cards showing how you can create basically the same card, but by changing the colors it can be for a guy or a gal!

More Class

This card fits a sketch that my friend Jen does over on PaperArtistsOnline, and I colored the paper flower with Copic markers in a way I learned from Julie Ebersole during Online Class this week.  Fun way to get flowers that basically match what your papers are.  Check out Julie's blog, always great ideas there and her videos are fun!

The paper and stamp are from the May Simon Says Stamp kit, which I'm getting a lot of use out of making Mother's Day cards this year.  I embossed the saying with white embossing powder and added some lines with my scoring board, I don't have a diagonal plate, so after adhering the patterned papers I used a ruler and carefully lined things up on the diagonal on the board and scored my lines.

Tomorrow is the last day of class, sad.  But it will let me get going on some other projects!

Sympathy cards

 I usually have a hard time making a sympathy card, I have a few stamps but then the inside is the hard part.  This card from Online Card Classes has a pocket where you can put a removable note.  I don't have just the right saying for the inside yet, so I'll have to wait on that.  

The images are done in a watercolor effect with Distress Inks.  Ink up your stamp and add a spritz or two of water then stamp, giving you a watercolor look.

Stamps are:  flowers & leaves, Stampin' Up.  with Sympathy, Club Scrap.

Colored Vellum

Colored vellum was the second lesson on the second day of Online Card Class, His & Hers. I think these turned out okay, and they look better in real life than these photos.  I had a heck of a time filming them and finally went with these two photos.

The top one is the feminine version, and I may have gotten a wee bit carried away with the fun little sequins!  The "thanks" is cut from vellum with a Cuttlebug die and colored with Copic markers as are the strips of vellum going across the card.

For the masculine card I wanted to try out my hexagon Nestibilities, and to mix it up from what was shown in class.  It's hard to get a streak free look when coloring vellum, but maybe that adds to the charm.  This is also colored with Copic Markers.

supplies:
Cardstock: neenah solar white, Club Scrap teal
Stamps: Stampin' Up
Pens: Copic
Dies: Hexagon Nestibilities, Memory box alphabet, Cuttlebug thanks

Online Card Class - Kaleidoscope Inking

On the second day of class the over-all theme was birthday cards, and I do like to keep a small stash of those on hand because sometimes I need one in a hurry!  We learned several ways to mix up a sketch, ink colors or embellishing to create a feminine or masculine card.

These two cards are the same design and stamps, just different ink colors.  The first one I need to work on a bit, or perhaps pick better ink colors for the rainbow effect.  Even though this is the "hers" card, I think it would work well for a young child or teen.  The second one is the "his" card, using blues and greens to make it more masculine. I also used a plain font for the greeting and added some wooden stars to jazz it up a bit. I colored them with some Distress Stains in the same color as one of the petals.

Supplies:
Inks: Adrirondack, CTMH, Stampin' Up (whatever I could find in the stash)
Stamps: petal is from CTMH, Hero Arts (enjoy your birthday), Stampin' Up (HB)
cardstock: neenah solar white, Kraft, Club Scrap and unknown
other: Vellum paper and wood stars

Online Card Class - Day One

 I'm taking another one of the fabulous classes from Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner (and friends) over at Online Card Classes.  This one is called His & Hers.  We are learning some creative ways to make both a feminine and masculine card.  Sometimes it's a matter of using the same sketch with different stamps/inks/colors, sometimes it's a technique.  Pretty fun, and great learning to think outside the box.

 This top card feels a bit more feminine to me, so I tried another using some different stamps and colors below.  Besides the geometric images (JudiKins) the colors lend themselves more towards a guy than a gal!

Supplies:

cardstock: Neenah Solar White, Kraft
Stamps: purple card is Hero Arts flowers, Stampin' Up saying
2nd card is also Hero Arts flowers with Stampin' Up saying and the bottom card is DeNami designs sentiments and JudiKins stamp.
Ink: white pigment from Club Scrap
misc: Pop dots

Art Journaling - Dylusions Sprays etc.

I found some time to make an art journal page tonight - it was good therapy!  Fun to be able to just let loose and try out my new Dylusion Sprays and some cool art pens.  I started with laying down some sprays, then doing some ghosting effects with water.  You place a stencil down and spray with water which reacts with the Dylusions and gives a ghost effect.  Then I sprayed the White Linen through a Coffee Break designs stencil to get my go-go dancers.  

I used a Dylusions stencil for the lettering, and the Staedtler Triplus fine liner pens to color them in.  They worked great over the inks.  Then some white with my Uniball Signo pen.  This is the best white pen I have found, love it.  Then I stamped some images through the stencil onto each dancer, and added some stamps to define a floor for them, or a dancing platform... maybe they are in a hip night club dancing!  I used stamps from Tim Holtz (Mixed Media) and Club Scrap (mini Short Sleeve Pants).  A few little touches of trendy tape and a Prima wood veneer flower and it's done!

Personally... I do most of my dancing where no one can see me,  iTunes and Spotify in the art "studio" are my best friends. Do you listen to music when you do art? And what kind?

  Go forth and dance!

Bands of Color

One of the new Technique Junkie techniques is called Bands of Color - it really lends itself to just a nice background, or in this case a background for some fairly detailed stamps that you might not be in the mood to color.  I needed a thank you for my cousins who have recently got their on-line hummingbird food shaker on the market, they sent over one of them for us so I thought a hummingbird themed card would be perfect.

supplies:

Paper: Ellen Hutson, JudiKins

Stamps: Stampin' Up

other: Eclipse masking tape, various inks