Watercolor Out of This World

I have been quite remiss in posting on my blog lately as several things have taken priority over typing up a blog post. I am going to try to get back in the swing of things here and since I have LOTS of cards and projects that I have made in the last few months that I have not blogged about, I think I can even work ahead a bit :) My blog has always been about inspiration and less about sales (although I sure wouldn't stop anyone from ordering from me, lol), but I would like to get into sharing more of me here. So, that is my mission this month!

I am completely in love with all things watercolor and I just can't get enough of this stuff! I made this card, and a whole pile of others with the same technique that I will share later, all the way back in October (I think). The sentiment is not SU, but one of my other favorite stamp companies and I have had it for a few years. It fit perfectly with the World Map BG though.

1. To make this panel, I just stamped the World Map image in Versamark on watercolor paper, then embossed with White embossing powder and heat set. 
2. Then I taped the panel down with Painter's Tape on a piece of MDF board that I had left over from a shelf building project. I keep it on hand for just this technique :) I used my Aqua-painter to add the inks over the map to create the ocean, greenery, and desert impressions. 
3. Then I spritzed it with a mix of Pearl Perfect Pearls and water. 
4. Air dry, then trim down to 3¾"x5", add some Gold Baker's Twine, and mount on a Natural White card base with dimensionals. 

The rest is pretty self-explanatory.

 I don't know if you can see the shimmer here, but it turned out really pretty, and still masculine.

On the inside, I masked off a small section and stamped the map image in Soft Suede and then sponged with the blue and green inks.

• Stamps: World Map BG (SU), Boy Basics: Out of This World (PTI), Boutique Borders: Mother (PTI)
• Ink: Island Indigo, Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake, Versamark
• Paper: Naturals White, Watercolor, Crumb Cake,Whisper White
• Other: Big Shot with Ovals framelit and Boutique Borders: Mother die (PTI), Embossing Buddy, White Detail embossing powder, Heat Tool, Gold Baker's Twine, Occasions Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercer and Mat, dimensionals, Signo white gel pen, sponges

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A little story about where this card ended up. At Christmas time this year, I had all the cards I needed made and all of the envelopes addressed, but I was having a heck of a time picking which card should go to whom. That can be a problem when almost all of the cards you make are only in multiples of 1-3! So I took a box of cards that was Christmas cards in the front, and a variety of cards in the back that I was just storing in the same box, and asked everyone to pick the Christmas card they would like this year. I added a message and our family photo right then and there. My sister, who rarely speaks to me other than to ask for money or be otherwise unpleasant, asked to look at the box. And proceeded to snag between 10-15 of the cards out of the back! So I admit this upset me a little bit as some of those cards were my current favorites and honestly, I wasn't done petting them yet! You all know what I mean :) AND there have been years between times that I have spoken to my sister at all. She does not allow me to have her contact info and calls me collect when she does call. She has Borderline Personality Disorder, which makes her a difficult person to have a relationship with, and I refuse to play her games. Yes, I am a bit stubborn too. I never said she is the only one ever in the wrong :) But don't tell her I said that ;) But she is my sister, and I still love her and wish we could get along. So this incident, at Christmas, reminded me that I need to let go, and just be happy that I could share some of my passion with my sister, and bring her some joy. At last, a positive interaction, for the first time in over 10 years! She kept going on about how beautiful the cards are, and how artistic they were. I can honestly say she has not spoken so well to me since I moved out when I was 18 and she was 13. AND she wanted to have pictures taken as a family.

 This is Nikki and me. She kept telling me to smile bigger. I don't have a big, gorgeous, toothy grin like she does though, lol! This is it! And Eric's wife is from the Phillipines, as in moved to Minnesota from there a couple of years ago, and they keep their home between 75-80 degrees. SO hot! My house is between 65-70 degrees! My hair had been up in a ponytail and I had taken the sweater off until the camera came out. Thus the flushed and dewy complexions, and the messy hair :)

Here I am with my Mom and all of the siblings I grew up with (Eric, Kirk, Nikki, Mom, and me from back left to front). I say it that way because I have several steps and a half brother that I did not grow up with, but that is a whole other story. And yes, Eric and Nikki were adopted, lol! Cuz we look so much alike, right :) Nikki lived in an orphanage in Seoul, Korea from birth until 3 years of age and suffered from malnutrition during that time. When she arrived in our home, she weighed 21 pounds. The damage caused to her early childhood psychological, emotional, and physical development have caused or contributed to the BPD, I am sure. And while I get frustrated with the reality of interacting with her, I have to remind myself that she can't be enjoying it either, and that it isn't easy to live a life that way. So, buck up Tanya! And love thy sister!

 OK, if you stuck it out through the whole post, wow! And thank you :) 

Big Ways, Small Ways, Thank God Always! Especially Today.

So, normally I wouldn't be posting a non SRC post on an SRC Monday, but I am making an exception today. Because, holy bananas, we had a harrowing experience in our household yesterday, and have much to be grateful for today. I will go into all of that at the end of this post. First I will share a card that I made back in December.

I was messing around with the Mixed Bunch set in preparation for the SRC hop featuring that set and made this card, among others. I adore the Core'dinations cardstock and had stopped using it when it was no longer in the Annual Catalog. But, I am not going to leep doing that kind of thing! If I love it and I have it, I am going to use it and blog about it :) You can still get this paper on the clearance rack, so I really don't feel too guilty about it anyway. Just don't let me order any more of it, lol!

• Stamps: Mixed Bunch, Something to Say
• Ink: Pool Party, Silver Encore, Basic Gray
• Paper: Whisper White, Pool Party Core'dinations
• Other: Project Life Corner Rounder punch, Big Shot with Ovals framelits and Polka Dot embossing folder, Silver Baker's Twine, Signo white gel pen, dimensionals

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 All of the layers are popped up on dimensionals, and I simply stamped the remainder of the sentiment inside.

OK, now for the scary story. And let me start by saying: No One Was Injured. No One.

This is the first car that I ever bought that was not at least 10 years old when I got it. It is/was a 2005 Dodge Neon and it has 196,000+ miles on it. I bought it in 2006 with 35,000 miles on it and drove it until I handed it down to my youngest child in 2013. All 4 of my children learned to drive in this car and took their drivers test in it. It served us well until Sunday afternoon when it came to an abrupt end.
Geoffrey had just left our home and was 1/4 mile from our doorstep. He had come to a complete stop at the intersection with the highway, looked both ways, and pulled out in front of a fully loaded logging semi. He just didn't see it. There were no curves, no fog, and no ice. The road conditions were perfect and the sun was to his right and he turned left in front of the semi. The semi driver had great reflexes and swerved into the oncoming lane to avoid hitting our car with the semi-tractor, loosing his load of logs in the process. The trailer with the now falling logs ran over the front end of our car. The logs scattered over both lanes, and an oncoming van had to take the ditch to avoid the semi that was now in his lane. The semi and the van did not roll, the logs did not hit anyone but did impact the hubcap of the oncoming van. There is a steep ditch and a frozen pond where the semi and van stopped and we are so lucky no one ended up in that! Again, I repeat. No one was hurt. By rights, my son should have died yesterday. We are so lucky. And blessed. Thank You God, and thank you truck driver for your quick thinking and even faster reflexes.

You can see here that the hood was peeled and folded on itself. And the rest of the car looks so very normal. I am going to miss that car so very much, but I would have missed my son exponentially more.

One more shot as "Mom's Shiny New Car" is taken away. Good-bye Neon. Hello to a new and glorious day!

Stamp Review Crew: Celebrate Today Edition

It is Stamp Review Crew time again, and this time we are featuring a stamp set from the Occasions Mini! This is a super fun set, and it has coordinating dies, who doesn't love those?! It is perfect for birthdays of all ages, baby stuff, and even weddings and graduations! That's a lot to pack into one set :)

If you are following along the hop in order you just came from Mike Funke's blog. He always has a fun twist to his creations, and great instructions, don't you think?! If you started here, don't worry, the hop goes full circle and you won't miss a thing. If you ever get lost along the way, you can find the full "map" on the Stamp Review Crew blog, just click on the banner at the top of this post. While you are there, be sure to catch up on any of the previous hops you may have missed :)
 

First up, I have this soft and neutral baby card. I am still in love with watercolor, so there is plenty of that happening here :) I used the Friday Mashup Sketch #195 for this card. Here is how I made this card.

1. Stamp the balloon dots all over a 3"x5½" panel of watercolor paper with Versamark ink, then heat emboss with White embossing powder. Of course, you want to wipe with the Embossing Buddy before you start :)
2. Use Aquapainter and So Saffron, Tangelo Twist, and Pool Party reinker to make the stripes of color. Set aside to dry.
3. On the left hand side of a 3¾"x5½" panel of Tangelo Twist, stamp the baby banner 3 times in Tangelo Twist ink. 
4. Cut out 2 banners from vellum cardstock, they may need to be different sizes depending on what sentiment you use on the inside of the card.On the first banner, stamp "baby" in Versamark and sprinkle Pool Party embossing powder on it, tap off excess. Stamp "baby" again and sprinkle with Tangerine Tango embossing powder, tap off excess. Stamp baby" again and sprinkle with Crushed Curry embossing powder. I think you get the picture :) When the banner is covered in babies, heat set the embossing powder. On the second banner, stamp the sentiment for the inside of the card in Versamark and emboss with Crushed Curry powder.
5. Lightly glue the watercolored panel to the Tangelo Twist panel and sew with zig zag stitch on one side and straight stitch on the other, then stitch the vellum banner to the panel.
6. Tie some White Baker's Twine around the bottom of the panel, add a knot of Coastal Cabana Twine, and adhere some Coastal Cabana sequins with Crystal Effects. 
7. Adhere completed panel to the card front with dimensionals. 
8. Stamp off and then stamp the 3 colors of dots on the inside lower right corner, then stitch the second vellum sentiment banner over the dots. DONE!

 Here is the inside of the card. I think I went a little overboard on the dots inside, but the vellum banner softens it up.

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pThis card is much more simple, although it is also a watercolor card :) This time I stamped the "HAPPY" and the "birthday" repeatedly in Versamark and embossed with White embossing powder. Then I took my Aquapainter and used Crushed Curry, Pool Party, and Real Red ink from the lids of the inkpads to color on the circles of color. (I used the Nacho Average Color Challenge #126) Then I set it aside to dry. I ended up trimming the panel down to 3¾"x5" and matting on Crushed Curry.

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Inside I just stamped the words in each color again. This was a pretty quick and simple card to put together, and I really like how it turned out!

Then I could not resist playing with the Mini Treat Bag die with this, and made this one with a balloon window. I even gold embossed some confetti onto the window sheet :)

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I am thinking that a message could be written on the back of this note card and a gift card could be attached to the stamped side.

That is all I have for you this time, and now we head off to Holly Krautkremer's blog to see what fabulous-ness she has come up with!

Challenges used:

Stamp Review Crew: Valentine Free For All Edition

Are you ready for a little change of pace? Well, we at the SRC have decided to, just this once, use a single theme instead of a single stamp set! Valentines, here we come!

If you are following along the hop in order you just came from Debra Burgin's blog. Lovely, right! If you started here, have no fear, the hop goes full circle and you won't miss a thing. If you ever get lost along the way, you can find the full "map" on the Stamp Review Crew blog, just click on the banner at the top of this post. While you are there, be sure to catch up on any of the previous hops you may have missed :)

My first project is made using some Occasions Mini and some SAB goodies. The rainbow of colors on the background are made using Blendas on the Irresistibly Yours specialty paper from SAB this year. And the sentiment is from the You Plus Me set in the Occasions Mini. It is embossed in Black embossing powder on vellum, then sewn onto the card front panel. The hearts are made with Dazzling Diamonds and Champagne Glimmer paper, and Gold Foil paper. I first colored stripes of different colors on the Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper with Blendas, then punched them out. 

And this is the same card, only this time I used Spots ink pads to swipe the color on. The Spots come in My Paper Pumpkin kits now, so you can't purchase them any other way at this time, but get the Paper Pumkpin kits, they are fantastic! You could also achieve this look using SU water-based markers.

Now it is time to hop on over to Lisa Young's blog so she can wow us with her pretty projects!

Stampin' Addicts 2015 Occasions Mini Blog Hop: Wood You Be Mine?

Another fabulous catalog has started and the Stampin' Addicts gang is here to show you a bunch of ideas with the new goodies! There are a lot of them in this new Mini, and I know that by the end of the sales period, I will have most of the sets!

There is, as always, a chat thread for this hop over at Stampin' Addicts, and you can get there by clicking on the banner above. There is also a master list of the blog hop stops there if you get lost along the way.

If you are following in order from the beginning, then you just arrived from Tina's blog where she did a fabulous job with the Hello Life set.

I am featuring the stamp set Wood You Be Mine? , no surprise there if you know me at all, lol! I live in the northwoods of Minnesota, near Bemidji.Timber has been a huge industry in our area since the pioneer days. Our local high school mascot is the Lumberjacks. I have 3 sons, and one of them has the nickname of Sasquatch as he is big, burly, and furry! He also cuts wood and clears brush as one of his side jobs. I had to get this set, lol!

So for my first project, I decided to make some Project Life style pocket cards. These will work perfectly with some high school activity pictures of any of my kids. If you have followed my blog for more than a year, you probably know that my youngest is a senior in high school and his "sport" is show choir, lol! However, my oldest son was an avid football player and I am sure I can find a few pictures of all of my boys in sports in middle school :)
I colored all of these images with a mix of Blendas and it was a lot of fun! If you look closely, you will see that the lumberjack has a rosy nose and cheeks. The flesh tones are all Crisp Cantaloupe in varying degrees of dilution. The beard is three of the Skin Tone Blendas.

Next up is a masculine (I think) love card. I wet embossed the lumberjack in Early Espresso embossing powder and the sentiment in Cherry Cobbler embossing powder on watercolor paper. Then I colored home with an Aquapainter and ink squeezed out of the inkpads onto the lids. I stamped the log slice on Naturals Ivory cardstock in Baked Brown Sugar. I ♥ how this turned out! AND I made 7 more of these to share in a swap :)
Do you like the varying tones in the beard? And the Crisp Cantaloupe as a flesh tone?

This time I was trying to capture a feeling of the northern lights in the background with sponging on watercolor paper and then spritzing and dripping water on it. There is some shimmer to it that I got from Vanilla Smooch Spritz. The lumberjack is colored with Blendas, same as the first project. The sentiment is from Guy Greetings. 

That is all for me, and now it is time to go check out what Twila Davis has in store for us!

 

2015 Stampin' Addicts SAB Blog Hop: Blendabilities

Welcome! We are so happy to share with you the goodies in this year's SAB selection! There are so many great things to get during this wonderful time of the year :) Remember, SAB starts on January 6th, so start making those lists.

If you are following along in order, then you just came from Holly Krautkremer's blog where she featured the stamp set A Happy Thing, and a wonderful job she did too!If you get lost, or just want to chat with your fellow hoppers, just click on the banner at the top of this post and it will take you to the official chat thread with the master list of bloggers.

I am the last stop on this hop, which means I am featuring the only thing in this SAB catalog that will still be available after SAB ends. BUT, it sure gives you a way to fill out your Blendas collection. I am going to show you several techniques or uses for the Blendas.

Here is a lunch bag treat bag with several uses for Blendabilities. I used the Pumpkin Pie set on this project. Let's start at the top:

1. Color your Washi tape! I took a strip of the gold striped Washi and stuck it lightly to a piece of paper and colored it with the lightest Blenda, then stuck it to the bag.
2. The rectangle was colored in an Ombre pattern with dark at the top, then I used the Color Lifter pen to make the polka dots. 
3. Lastly, I did another Ombre effect on a small piece of white cardstock, then stamped the animal print heart from Groovy Love in Gold Encore ink. After the ink dried, I punched out the heart.

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Next up is this card insert for a Project Life layout. This is a 4x6 card. There are 2, maybe 3, techniques, depending how you count them :)

1. I don't have this DSP pack, but I do have the digital version. So I printed it on Whisper white. To add color to the paper, I found a piece of plastic packaging and scribbled the Medium Daffodil, Wasabi, and Crumb Cake Blendas all over it, then spritzed with rubbing alcohol. Then laid the DSP over the top of the mess. Slickety-do-da! There are splotched and speckles, all in one step. Just clean the plastic with a paper towel and some alcohol.
2. Alternately, you can color directly on the DSP with the Blendas for a more vibrant color. 
3. Then I scribbled the darkest Daffodil onto the plastic, pour some Dazzling Diamonds glitter on top of the scribbles, and spritz or add a few drops of alcohol to it. Then set aside to dry. After it was dry, I put a stripe of Sticky Strip down on the project, then poured the colored glitter off the plastic onto the project, pressing it firmly onto the Sticky Strip. Ta-Da! Custom colored glitter!

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 Here is a fun berry basket, and a couple of plant picks with 2 more ways to use Blendas.

1. The black pick was first embossed in white, then I colored the embossed images with the light Wasabi and Pirouette Blendas.
2. On the white pick, I stamped the flower images in Momento Tuxedo Black ink, then used the dark Pirouette in the center petals, medium Pirouette on the next row of petals, then the light Pirouette on the outer petals. The leaves turned out much better than they deserve as I accidentally used the medium Olive with the light Wasabi :)

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 The night I made this card, I had been preparing to book our first cruise ever, so tropical weather and travel were heavily influencing me :) I think I will bring this with me to send to family while away on our trip.  I did use some of the DSP from the SAB catalog, stamping over it with Smoky Slate ink and the World Map stamp. And I accidentally sewed the Silver Foil Vellum to the card foil side down! Ack! But after I embossed the "hello" in Silver on it and the foil got a bit bubbled, I guess that was a good thing, lol! Only one new technique on this one, but 2 uses.

1. I colored the camera with the Smoky Slate and Bermuda Bay Blendas and cut it out. 
2. Then, with all 3 Bermuda Bays, a strip of Dazzling Diamond Glimmer paper was covered, then punched with the Star Confetti punch. Then the stars were carefully glued to the vellum with Crystal Effects.

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Well, either this was your last stop, or you started somewhere in the middle and you will be heading over to Heidi Bak's blog to see what she has worked with the stamp set Best Day Ever!

Be sure to leave some comments on your way through, we love to hear from you! I know it makes my day when someone has something to tell me :)

Stamp Review Crew: Mixed Bunch Edition

It is the third Monday of the month, so that means it is time for another edition of the Stamp Review Crew! This time we are featuring the fun floral set, Mixed Bunch. Ah, flowers. The snowflakes of summer  :)
  If you are following along in order, you just came from Holly Krautkremer's blog. Wow, right!
As always, if you get lost along the way, you can always find the right links on the official Stamp Review blog, and click here for the post for this hop. If you have missed any of the past hops, be sure to go to the official Stamp Review Crew site and catch up!

 I was suddenly inspired to create a card by one of my favorite mugs the other day. I got the mug when I visited Pike Place Market while I was in Seattle in September of 2011. I love this mug. And I think this card turned out pretty cool too :)

There was sponging and water spritzing, heat tooling, and water dropping involved along with stamping and heat embossing right over the watercolor effect.

The inside needs some love too :)

One of my favorite inks to use with watercoloring is the Pear Pizzazz ink. It bleeds out into so many shades of green and brown and has this incredible earthy feel to it. The flowers were stamped right over the dried watercoloring in Pear Pizzazz ink.
Then heat set one more time and wiped really well with the Embossing buddy, and wet embossed the "hello".

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Ok, now off to Beth Beard's blog. I know she will have something fabulous waiting for you!