No card tutorial for today.  I really needed to work on this fish.  I’m off to the Art & Soul Retreat in California in a couple of weeks.  Apparently, when you sign up for the retreat they send you a white ceramic fish and you are suppose to alter it and bring it with you for display at the retreat, yikes!  Well I altered mine alright, pretty wacky huh?

Anyway, just wanted to share my fish with you.  Like I said in a previous post, you all are my friends now and I will share with you the good projects and the bad, lol.  It is painted entirely with Alcohol inks.  I didn’t even use a paint brush, just dropped the color on and held the fish at different angles to get some of the ink to run.  The gold was just dropped on too.  Once the fish was colored I decided to stamp the bird on it.  I used an unmounted stamp with no mount so I could get the stamp to bend with the fish, KWIM.  Since I was using Alcohol inks I was able to use my Prismacolor Blending marker to lift the color off on the bird where I wanted it to be white.  I thought that was pretty cleaver of me, lol.  I also used the blending marker to make swirls in the blue area.   I did add highlights on the bird with a white gel pen, you know I had to use my gel pen, lol. 

Well I have to say, my fish will not come out from hiding until I see some of the other fish on display!  I’m such a chicken

I think tomorrow I will be making my calling cards for the retreat, so I will have something on hand to give to folks when they want to swap addresses/e-mails.  Of course they will be stamped, so stay tuned.

Hope your projects today come out less wacky than my fish!

Until tomorrow. . . . . . . . . . . .

Each month Jami puts together a Split Coast Stampers Dirty Dozen Design Team challenge for the Current and Alumni Design Team.   Here are the rules for this months challenge that we had to follow:

Everything Old is New Again!We all tend to get so caught up in the latest and greatest stamps, papers, embellishments, etc that we can get into a shopping (and hoarding) frenzy!  So we have to use old stuff for this challenge.

Challenge Focus: Use one of the oldest stamp sets you own along with embellishments and supplies you’ve had for what seems like forever.

Restricted Element: No stamps, tools, or supplies purchased or obtained within the last 6 months. 
Bonus Challenge: Use a technique or style you haven’t used in a long time, but was a favorite at some point in your stamping past.

Well I followed the rules and just use an old Stampin’ Up retired set Sweet Herb, copy righted in 1999.

I also colored my stamp images with regular Stampin’ Up markers.

The main images were stamped on handmade paper that I made myself many years ago when I went through a paper making stage, lol.  I have been hoarding that paper.

Remember those skelton leaves, ahhh I have a bunch of them in a drawer.

It’s nice to know we don’t need all the latest and greatest to make a wonderful card.

Check out this limited supply list for this project:

If you would like to see all of the DD’s cards for this challenge then check out this link:  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?si=DCON308+&limit=&x=6&y=10

How about you challenge yourself to make a card out of things you haven’t used in at least 6 months, I dare ya!

Hope your day is a mellow one!

I used this technique in yesterday’s tutorial and I found it to be fairly quick and easy, but still has a great wow factor.  Here is another tutorial on alcohol inks and transparency film.

Supplies:

Started out with a 5″x 5″ piece of transparency film and Basic Gray Designer paper.

Stamped Butterfly and flowers using Stazon Black ink.   Keep in mind that your finished image will be reversed in this technique.

Let the ink dry and then I flipped the transparency over, ink side down onto the Design paper.

Put about an inch of Alcohol Blending Solution in an Aqua brush.

Put a few drops of Lettuce Alcohol Ink on a Styrofoam plate and picked the color up with the Aqua brush and painted the leaves very loosely.  I’m painting on the side that does not have the Black Stazon on it.

Painted the inside of the flower petals loosely with Caramel Alcohol ink.

Painted the outside of the flower petals and buds loosely with Latte Alcohol ink. 

Painted the inside of the butterfly wings with Butterscotch Alcohol ink.

Painted the outsides of the butterfly wings with Stream Alcohol ink. 

Note:  if you get a bit of ink some where that you don’t want it.   Clean your brush and just use the alcohol filled aqua brush to whisk it away.

The butterfly was too bright for my liking so I tone it down with Caramel Alcohol ink.

Assembled card using brads to hold the transparency film in place on the card front.

Finished card!

Hey, if you like this tutorial and I haven’t bored you half to death, give me a shout out in the comments section below.  :)  I love to hear from you.

Hope your day is filled with butterflies and flowers!

This card is an experiment with Alcohol inks and transparency Film.  I found this great on line tutorial (here is the link:  http://ironorchiddesigns.typepad.com/iod/2008/03/clear-paintable.html)  and decided to play around with the technique.

Supplies: 

On a 5″x5″ piece of Basic Grey Two Scoops Design Paper, painted Distress Crackle Paint - Peeled Paint color on lower left hand corner.  This is my first time using this Crackle paint.  It has a handy little built in brush.  The thicker you apply it the more cracks that appear in the paint.    Let dry throughly.

I’m using the Basic Grey Two Scoops Flower Swash Set.  I don’t have a clear mount big enough for the large flower in this set so I improvised by sticking it on the wood of one of my background stamps.  I’m so cheap, no wait, thrifty someone once told me, lol.

I stamped the stamp on a Transparency Film with Stazon Black Ink.  Beware this will stain your stamp.  I was not able to get all of the ink off of it.  I’m not one to freak out about stains on my stamps, but some of you don’t like it, I know.

When the paint dried on the design paper I flipped the transparency film over so the ink side is facing down and put it over the design paper. 

I put some of the Alcohol Blending Solution in an Aqua Brush.

I put a couple of drops of Lettuce Alcohol Ink on a Styrofoam plate.  Picked up some of the color on the Aqua brush and loosely painted over the leaves and stem of the image on the transparency.  This ink drys super fast and flows like butter with the Alcohol filled aqua brush.

I started painting in my flower with Cranberry.  You will want to clean your brush in between the Lettuce and Cranberry ink by wiping it on your scrap paper a few times.

Outlined the flower loosely with Currant Alcohol ink.

Although you can’t see it in the pictures, I put a little Gold Mixative on the larger leaves. 

Removed Transparency film from Design Paper and outlined the paper with a Sharpie Gold Paint Pen.  This creates a layered look without the bulk, plus gives it a little bling.

It’s simple to do, just rest your marker on the side of the cardstock and run it along the edge.  One swipe usually does it.  It will put half of the color on the card stock and half on your scrap paper with an even line.

Put a little Walnut Stain ink on the crackle paint to highlight cracks.

Stamped sentiment with Stazon Black ink.

Glued card stock layers together and a fixed the transparency to the top with brads.  I use my piercing tool to make the holes for the brads.

Finished card!

I really like painting with these Alcohol inks on the transparency.   It goes on very smooth and dries quickly.  I’ll have to play some more with this technique. 

Give it a try!

Have a bloom’n wonderful day!

Hello Everyone, I getting all geared up for my trip next month to California for the Art & Soul Retreat my sister and I  will be attending.  I’m so very excited!  I’ll be taking a 2 day class on making Nature Journals and a one day class to learn how to color black and white photos.

If you want to check out the retreat, here is the link:   

http://www.artandsoulretreat.com/Asilomar-2008.php

Check it out and attend.  I would love to meet you all!

It’s so funny, I need to take some stamps for the nature journal class.  How on earth am I going to decide which ones to take and what inks!  You know the brayer will be shoved in the bag for sure.  I’m planning on taking one suit case just for art supplies, so what if I’m wearing the same outfits over and over again, lol.

Has anyone else prepared for something like this?  Do you have any suggestions?  Check out the link and look at all the things I have to haul from Ohio to California.  There is a supply list for each class, yikes!

I’ll share my projects with you all when I return from the trip, whether they are good or bad, lol.  You all are my friends now,  I can show you the yucky stuff too right? 

Anyway, I am extremely excited to be able to attend this retreat!   Packing suggestions are so very welcome.

One more thing, I already have another tutorial done.  I will be posting it tomorrow.  I haven’t made a card without doing a tutorial on it in over a month.  There has been such an over whelming response to this blog.  I had over 17,000 hits in a month and one day.  Woohooo!  Thanks everyone for your kind words and support this last month.