Well this is my 100th tutorial!!!  Woohoo!  I just can’t believe it.  100 tutorials all since February 2008 when I first started this blog.   This card is dedicated to you, as a thank you, for encouraging me with your wonderful comments.  I have learned so much along the way too.

One thing, I want to give you a peek at before getting on with the tutorial.  This is a sample of one of the projects that will be created in the Dayton, Ohio workshop at Marco Paper on September 6th.  So join me, won’t you, and lets take the fear out of using that brayer and make some beautiful cards in the process.   Absolutely no prior brayer experience necessary.  :)   I’m keeping the class number to 8 per class so I can have lots of time to work with you individually.   You will also be sent home with a great set of stamps, Speedball brayer and other great tools.  All of this is included in the workshop fee.  Just a hint, register early before the locals get your spot.  Hope to see you there.

To register, please contact Marco Paper at  937-433-7030 or 1-888-433-5239 or website at  http://marcopaper.com/index.html

Oh yeah,  one more thing, I just have to share with you this photo of the staff from Marco’s Paper, lol. Yes, the tall person in the middle with great legs is Greg. He’s a good sport and always gets dressed up for the trade show theme. This year it was a “PJ Party” at the Stamp Away USA trade show.    Greg, that looks like way to much fun!  

OK, on with Tutorial #100!

Supplies:

Starting out with a 4.5″ x 4.5″ piece of Whisper White card stock.

Mask a little under half of the bottom of the card stock with a post it note.

Brayered on Bashful Blue ink at the top of the card stock.

Brayered on Brilliant Blue ink not covering the Bashful blue ink entirely.

Sponged Brilliant Blue ink at the top of the card stock very heavily to create some drama in the sky.

Sponged a bit of Black ink at the edge of the Post it Note mask to create a couple of hills in the distance.

Removed Post it note Mask.

Masked Sky area with a clean Post it Note.

Brayered on Barely Banana ink on the unmasked section of the card stock.

Tore a piece of post it note in a triangle shape to mask a section to create a road.  This is an experiment, I have not tried this before.  The sticky part of the Post it note is at the bottom of the card stock.

Brayered on More Mustard ink.

Removed triangle post it note, but left the post it note that is masking the sky on.

Sponged More Mustard ink in the middle of the Road.

Sponged Close to Cocoa ink in the middle of the road and the bottom of the card stock, not covering the More Mustard ink entirely.

Sponged Chocolate Chip ink at the very bottom of the card stock.

Took the Post it Note off of the Sky.

Colored in the middle tree with a black marker, huffed on it and stamped it.

Colored in the two trees on the right side of the stamp with a black marker, huffed on it and stamped it to the left of the first tree I stamped.

Sponged a bit of black ink under and to the left side of the trees to create a shadow.

Used my corner rounder punch on two corners of my main image panel and the Brilliant Blue panel that will go under it.

Stamped two hinges on with Basic Black ink and colored them in a bit with a gray marker.

Assembled card, added a gold brad to each hinge and then stamped my sentiment using Basic Black ink.

Here you have it, the conclusion of tutorial #100 with the finished card measuring 5.25″ x 5.25″.

May your day be filled with dreamy scenery.  Thanks again for your encouragement!

Until my next post. . . . . . . . . . . .

Hugs,

Michelle

Happy Sunday Everyone! 

I didn’t get a chance to post on Saturday due to the Stamp Away USA, Stamp Convention that was held in Sharonville, OH at the Convention Center.  This was my first time attending one of these stamp conventions and man oh man, can a Gal get into lots of trouble at one of these things. 

Below is a picture of my purchases and believe me I wanted just about everything, but I set a limit for myself before I went and only took that much in cash with me and left my credit cards at home.  That turned out to be a smart move on my part, lol.  I think I made wiser choices too.

The day was so enjoyable, Karen Barber let me drag her along on the road trip and I also met a few of you blog readers :)  A big hello to Colleen and her friends and to Priscilla.

Today’s tutorial was created with one of the stamps I purchased.  By the way this is tutorial number 99.  If you would like to see the other 98 tutorials check out the tab at the top of my blog that reads “all my tutorials”.

So let’s get started. 

Supplies:

Brayered Baja Breeze ink at the top of a 5.5″ x 4.2″ piece of Whisper White Card stock.

Brayered Kiwi Kiss ink at the bottom half of the card stock.

Tore through the sticky part of two post it notes and used them to mask the ground portion of the card stock.

Sponged Baja Breeze ink at the torn edge of the card stock to create a horizon line and to put in a couple of mountain shapes.

Right at the torn edge of the post it notes sponged in Not Quite Navy to darken the horizon line so it would really stand out.

Removed post it note masks and sponged Not Quite Navy ink at the top of the card stock to create a more dramatic sky.

Sponged Old Olive ink at the bottom of the card stock to create some depth in the foreground.

Stamp my new “Stamp by Judith T-40″ with Basic Black ink.

Colored the rocks with a Going Gray maker.

Colored the tree trunk with a Chocolate Chip marker.

Colored the fence posts with a Close to Cocoa marker.

Colored the tops of the fence posts with a Creamy Caramel marker.  Also created a shadows for the tree and fence post with the Creamy Caramel marker.

Colored the flowers in with a white gel pen.

Colored the flower stems with an Old Olive maker.

Added some Close to Cocoa to the center of my tree and fence post shadows.

Sponged Note Quite Navy ink on the edge of my Kiwi Kiss card stock panel.

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

Hope you enjoyed this country scene and will give it a try.

May your day be filled with soft scenery and daisies!

Until my next post. . . . . . . . .

Hugs,

Michelle

Announcement, Announcement!  I will be teaching brayer workshops in the following towns:

Dayton, Ohio at Marco Paper Store (http://www.marcopaper.com/) on September 6th

Fort Collins, Colorado on September 19th  & 20th

San Jose, California on October 24th & 25th

For information on these workshops or to host one in your town, please contact Lisa Itatani at litatani@pacbell.net or  http://flatfishpaperarts.blogspot.com/  while there are still spots open. 

Come join me and let’s take the frustration out of using that brayer an create some dramatic skies together in the process. :)  Hope to see you soon.

Now on to today’s tutorial. :)  

Today’s project shows off the emboss resist technique.  Also, I thought I would celebrate the butterfly while they are still fluttering around in my yard.

Supplies:

Stamped butterfly with Palette Noir Black ink on a 4.5″ x 4.5″ piece of Whisper White card stock.

Colored the part of the Butterfly’s wings and the body with an Almost Amethyst marker.

Colored a part of the Butterfly’s wings with a Blush Blossom marker.

Colored part of the Butterfly’s wings with a Barely Banana Marker.

Colored part of the butterfly’s wings with a More Mustard marker.

Darkened the black lines on the butterfly with a Faber Castell black marker to make the butterfly really pop!

Colored over the entire butterfly, being very careful to stay within the design area, with a Versamark marker.

Heat embossed the butterfly with clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Using a Stamp-a-ma-jig for placement, stamped the flourish by first loading it with Versamark and then with Stream ink before stamping.

Heat embossed flourish with clear embossing powder. 

Note:  it was not necessary to clean the stream ink off of the butterfly, it just melts right into the embossing on the butterfly when heated.

Sponged Aqua ink onto the flourish area in a circular motion.

Colored in the flourish with a white gel pen to make it stand out.

After assembling card front, used piercing tools and pierced each corner of  of the main image panel.

Added a silver brad to each side of the flourish.

Here you have it the finished card measuring 5.25″ x 5.25″. 

Hope you enjoyed today’s tutorial and will give emboss resist a try. 

May your day be filled with filtered light and colorful butterflies.

Until my next post. . . . . . . . . . .

Hugs,

Michelle

A couple times a year I have to get this old Stampin’ Up set “Cool Cat” out and work with it.  Love this cat!    This morning I felt like getting out the bright colors to liven things up a bit.

Let’s get started. 

Supplies:

Cut a 2.5″ circle with my Coluzzle out of card stock.

Note:  This morning I used a circle cut previously and used in a different project.  Nice to keep these things on hand and re-use them.

Used the circle as a mask for the moon.  I just held it in place as I worked.

Traced a fine line around the mask with a Bordering Blue marker on a 4″ x 4″ piece of Whisper White card stock.

Sponged on some Summer Sun ink.

Sponged on Some Tempting Turquoise ink.

Sponged on some Wild Wasabi ink.

Sponged on some Ruby Red ink.

Sponged on some Chocolate Chip ink.

Removed mask.

Sponged some Summer Sun ink inside of the moon to the left side.

Using my Stamp-a-ma-jig for placement, stamped Cool Cat with Basic Black ink.

Sponged some Black ink at the bottom of the card stock.

Used a white gel pen to color in the whites of the cat’s eyes.

Colored in the Cat’s ears with a Blush Blossom Marker.

Added some dots to the background to look like distant stars.

Figured out what layout I wanted to use and cut my panels.

Distressed the main image panel and the Tempting Turquoise panel with a Tim Holtz distress tool.

Dragged the edges of all sides of the main image panel over the black ink.

sponged Tempting Turquoise ink around the edges of the Tempting Turquoise panel.

Drew in lines using a Tim Holtz ruler and White Gel pen to create a look of brick.

Drew a black line under the cat to create the top of the wall and colored in the top bricks with the black marker to make it flow better from one layer to the next.

The Tim Holtz ruler has holes in it that you can use your piercing tool with to create a faux stitching look. 

Punched my holes around the edge of the card  stock and then used a white gel pen and ran it from one hole to the next to create the stitching.

Here you have it the finished card measuring 5″ x 6.5″.

May your day be sunny and your night sky be bright!

Until my next post. . . . . . . . .

Hugs,

Michelle

I’m getting back into the swing of things today after my week off line. 

First things first, we have a blog candy winner!!!

The winner is comment number 133 out of 234.   Congratulations to Linda Patti who wrote “please enter me for the blog candy.. LOVE the framed art work!”  Linda, please e-mail me your address so I can get this out to you.

Thanks everyone for playing along. 

Now for today’s tutorial.  I used the stamp sheet from Innovative Stamp Creations “Marvels of Nature” that can be purchased from their online store found here:  http://www.innovativestampcreations.com/ischomepage.html

Supplies:

Loaded tree stamp with Versamark, then Really Rust ink, tapped the brush end of a Chocolate Chip marker on the leaf area of the stamp and colored in the trunk before stamping it on a 4″ x 5.5″ of Whisper White card stock.

Heat embossed it using clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Cover 1/3rd of the bottom of the card stock with a Post it Note to mask it.

Brayer on Soft Sky ink over the sky area.  Then brayered on Not Quite Navy ink at the top of the card stock, not covering the Soft Sky ink entirely.

Tore the top of the Post it note to reveal a bit of the white card stock.

Masked the sky with another Post it note.

Brayered on Not Quite Navy ink in the unmasked area.   This created the water and horizon line.

Removed masks.

Sponged on Antique Linen Distress ink on the ground area using a sideways streaking motion.

The distress pads are great for direct to paper techniques since the pad is raised up from the plastic case.

Streaked one edge of the Old Paper ink pad in an upward motion to create grasses.

Added some Peeled paint grasses in the same manner as the last step.

Added a few Chocolate Chip marker branches to the center of the tree.

Added a couple of strokes of the Brushed Corduroy ink pad at the bottom of the Peeled paint grasses.

Rounded the top of the card stock using a circle Coluzzle template.

Assembled card front and added fine lines of Going Gray marker to the corners using a ruler to keep them straight.

Using the brush end of the Going Gray marker, added a thick line to the left and bottom of the Very Vanilla panel to create a shadow.

Added a fine line of black marker to the left and bottom of the Very Vanilla panel to enhance the shadow.

Here you have it the completed card measuring 5″ x 6.5″.

Hope your day is filled with cool ocean breezes and sunshine. 

Until my next post. . . . . . .

Hugs,

Michelle