I’m feeling a bit under the weather today with allergies, hence the blue landscape. 

It’s very calming don’t you think?   I thought this would be a nice sympathy card for a man.

Let’s get started on today’s tutorial.

Supplies:

Brayered Soft Sky ink all over a Whisper White piece of card stock.

Put post it notes on the card stock where I want my horizon line to be and sponged in a circular motion Blue Bayou ink to form a mountain in the distance.

Sponge on Night of Navy ink in a circular motion to create a mountain that over laps the one in the distance.

Sponged Night of Navy ink on the mountain in the fore ground, not covering the Not Quite Navy ink entirely.

Sponged a little Basic Black right at the post it note edge to really get dark at the horizon line.

Took the post it note mask off and put new ones on to cover the sky and mountains.  I also masked a very small part of the water area right at the foot of the mountains to create a light beach area.

With my mask in place, I traced where my foreground mountain is on the post it notes so I can envision where I want my mountain reflection to be in the water area.

I turned the card stock up side down so I could work better.  I sponged on Not Quite Navy ink to create the mountain reflection using a circular motion.

Sponged Night of Navy on the mountain reflection not covering the Not Quite Navy ink entirely.

Removed the post it note masks.

Using a gentle swiping motion with the sponge from left to right, I sponged on Blue Bayou ink in the water area.

Stamp trees with Basic Black ink.

Stamped Canvas stamp over main image panel to create the illusion of a painting with Soft Sky Ink.  Sorry, it is very hard to see this in the picture.

Assembled card and here it is finished.  The finished card measures 5″ x 6.5″.

This ends the tutorial part of today’s post, but if you are interested keep reading to see a bit of my Spring garden in bloom. 

These pictures were taken yesterday in the few hours of sunshine we have had here in a few days. 

You just have to love Iris when they are blooming.  They are so very elegant with their ruffled petals.

I have these Early blooming Daylilies blooming away also.  Love them too!

I have these half Barrels turned over in the garden for interest. 

Strawberry jar, I can’t wait to get some berries!

Just another garden ornament.

That’s all for now folks.  Thanks for sticking around for a little bit of a garden tour.

Hope your Sunday is one of peace.

Until my next post. . . . .

Michelle

Check it out!  I’m so excited to get to do this. . . . . Here are two sneak peeks of Gina K. Designs “You Are My Sunshine”  and  a sneak peek of Rupa Shevde’s “Many Happy Returns” that is also manufactured by Gina K. Designs.  Both sets are due to release on May 20th along with three other very fabulous sets!!  Here is a link to Gina’s blog so you can get all of the juicy details of the new releases:  http://blog.ginakdesigns.com/

Until my next post. . . ..

Michelle

You can tell the days when I have had a stressful day at work.  I come home and retreat to my own little stamping world where all is good, lol.  Yesterday was such a day.  Like I’ve said before, stamping is my therapy.

Last night I needed to lose myself so decided I would try to create an underwater scene.  I’ve not did this before and here is the result.  What do you think?

These cute Hippos are from the “Just So Hippy!” and “Hip-hop accessories” sets by Melanie Muenchinger and manufactured by Gina K. Designs.  Here is a link:  http://www.shop.ginakdesigns.com/main.sc

Come along with me today on this underwater tutorial adventure.

Supplies:

Stamped Large hippo on Whisper White card stock and again on a scrap piece of paper.

Cut the hippo out that I stamp on the scrap paper and used it as a mask for the one on the card stock.

Stamped small hippo so he is standing on the large hippo.  Then removed mask from Large hippo.

Used a Prismacolor buff marker on the shadowed areas of the hippos.

Colored the Hippos in with a Prismacolor Cool Grey 10% marker.

Colored over the middle of the hippos with a Prismacolor Cool Grey 30% marker.

Colored the undersides of their bottoms and jowl line with a Prismacolor Cool Grey 50% marker to try to create a roundness to their bottoms. 

Masked the sky area with Post it notes.  Stuck them on with the sticky side at the horizon line.

Brayered Aqua ink in the unmasked area.

Sponged some Aqua ink on in the swiping motion from left to right to create lines in the water.

Sponged Cool Caribbean ink with a circular motion at the post it note edge.  Also used a swiping motion and put some Cool Caribbean ink at the bottom of the card stock.

I wanted to get a little darker yet at the horizon line so I sponge on a little Taken with Teal ink right at the post it note edge.  Then I removed the post it note mask.

Stamped small hippo on a scrap piece of paper and cut it out.  Note:  when you cut out a mask for something, you want to cut inside the lines of the image to make it just a fraction smaller.  If your mask is the same size as the image you will end up with a halo of white around the image when your project is completed.  This does not look good, lol.

Now I covered my small hippo with his mask and put post it notes on to mask the water area.  It is time to put in the sky.

Brayered on Butterscotch ink in the sky area.

Brayered on Terra Cotta ink at the top of the card stock, not covering the Butterscotch ink completely.

Brayered on Ginger ink at the top of the card stock, not covering the Terra Cotta ink completely.

Removed mask.

I could have stopped here, but I needed more therapy. 

Tore a piece of Creamy Caramel card stock to use as the bottom and sides of the pond.

Using a circular motion, sponged Creamy Caramel ink on the torn card stock, leaving the torn edge un-inked.

Using a circular motion, sponged on Chocolate Chip ink, not covering the Creamy Caramel ink completely.

Using a circular motion, sponged on black ink at the very bottom and corners.

I wanted it to take on a blue green tint so I brayered over it with Taken with Teal ink and then sponged the torn edge with the same ink.

Heavily sponged on Old Olive ink at the top sides of the torn card stock to give it a grassy appearance.

Assembled card and highlighted the hippos teeth and whites of their eyes with a white gel pen.

Here it is the complete creation that measures 5″ x 6.5″.

Hope you enjoyed this underwater adventure.

May your day be filled with orange skies and smiling hippos. 

Until my next post. . . . .

Michelle

This was created using the sketch challenge from Split Coast Stampers SC176.  These sketch challenges really get my mind racing.  Here is the link if you would like to play along too:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=347754

Supplies:

Stamped Butterfly with Palette Noir Black ink on Whisper White card stock.

Colored the butterfly wings in with a Prismacolor Deco Peach marker.

Colored the tops and bottom of the wings with a Prismacolor Blush Pink marker.

Colored the very tops and bottom of the wings with a Prismacolor Magenta marker.

Colored the butterfly’s body in with a Prismacolor Buff marker.

The black in the butterfly’s wings was look dual so I darkened them with a black marker.

Being careful to stay in the lines, colored over the butterfly with a Versamark marker and heat embossed it using clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Over stamped the Butterfly with the leaf stamp by first loading the stamp with Versamark and then Lettuce ink before stamping.

Heat embossed leaf with clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Sponge Butterscotch ink on the card stock using a circular motion.

Stamped Side “A” of the marble texture cube with Mountain Rose ink.  I missed taking a picture of it, but I sponged some of the Mountain Rose ink on the card stock after the cube stamp ink had dried some.  (Sorry, but it is very early in the morning when I create these tutorial, lol)

Sponged some Ginger ink around the outer edges using a pouncing motion.

Getting darker yet by sponging some Espresso ink around the outside edges, not covering the Ginger ink completely.

Getting even more darker, sponged black ink at the corners.

Stamped side “C” of the marble texture cube around edges with Espresso ink.

After ink has dried for a few moments I took an old rag and wiped the ink from the embossed images.

Punched 2 window punches from Chocolate Chip card stock and drug the ends of them across a black ink pad.

Oops!  Sorry you had to look at my grungy stamping pad in the last picture,  lol.  Really keeping it real this morning!

Assembled card front and stamped the sentiment in Espresso ink.

Here is the finished creation measuring 5″ x 6.5″. 

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial and will give it a try!

Hope your day is filled with beautiful sun shine and Spring weather!

Until my next post. . . . .

Michelle

When I seen this stamp set Going Places from My Favorite Things I just had to have it for no other reason than I had to have the buildings stamp.  My mind just started working the minute I ordered it.  Well it came in the mail last night and here is my first piece with it.

My stuff usually looks quite country, but today we are going to the City. 

 Supplies:

Used my Mirror Image Stamp by Rubber Stampede to stamp a reverse image of the buildings on Whisper White card stock using black ink.

Note:  to use the mirror image stamp, stamp your image on to the mirror image stamp and then stamp your mirror image stamp on the card stock.

Stamped the building stamp with Black ink being careful to line up the buildings with the mirror image.

Colored some of the mirror image buildings with an Apricot Appeal marker and the matching building above it with a Pumpkin Pie marker.  I’m using a lighter shade on the mirror images so it is not so strong in appearance.

Colored some of the mirror image buildings with an Almost Amethyst marker and the matching buildings above them with a Lovely Lilac marker.

Colored the rest of the mirror image buildings with a Gable Green marker and the matching buildings above them with a Green Galore marker.

I wanted to create a bit of shadow on the right sides of the main building images, so I took the matching marker and colored just the right sides of the buildings with it. 

Colored in the space between the mirror image and the main image with a gray maker.  I also darkened the windows on the main image buildings with the same marker.

Colored over the main image buildings only with a Versamark Marker and then heat embossed the buildings with clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Note:  I did not heat emboss the mirror images.

Sponged Soft Sky ink over the entire card stock.  In the water area I used a streaking motion from left to right across the card stock to simulate water.  In the sky area I used a circular motion.

Sponged Not Quite Navy ink on the sky and water areas using the same motions with the sponge as I did with the Soft Sky ink.  I did not cover the Soft Sky ink completely.

Sponged Night of Navy ink in the same way as I did the Not Quite Navy ink.  I did not cover the Not Quite Ink completely.

Used post it notes to mask the sky and main building area.

Sponged Night of Navy at the post it note edge.

Added a hint of black sponging at the bottom and top of the card stock.

Assembled the card and here it is finished.  This card measures 5.25″ x 5.25″ completed.

Wow, I had a bit of computer issues today uploading this.  Yeah!  I finally got it to upload.

Thanks so much for following along with me to the city.

Until my next post. . . . .

Michelle