Baseball Season

Today, I created these two cards for the Artistic Outpost blog. 
For some reason baseball came into my mind when I set out to make something for the blog.  We're big Twins fans!
The stamps are from Cracker Jack except for the film strip which is from Happiness.  I stamped the film strip 4 times, then cut an Eclipse tape mask so I could stamp the images into it.  All coloring was done with watercolors......my favorite medium right now.
I repeatedly stamped the baseballs to make the backround paper.  Again, I used watercolors for shading and color between the balls. 
Once I got all done with this card, I had a few scraps leftover......some things that hadn't worked and some left from what I used.

So I quickly put together a second card.......

You'll recognize the strip of baseball paper as the same as my first card.  The ballpark names was a piece that didn't work for the first card.  I stamped the tan card front with versamark using a mask over the baseball player.  A few mats and the verse completed the card.  When I was done, I liked this card best!
Sometimes my favorite pieces are the ones I do quickly......no time to think too much!

Have a great weekend!
 -judy

The Butterfly

I used stamps from 2 Artistic Outpost sets for this card: Happiness and Serenity.

First, I created the paper behind the butterfly using a stamp from Serenity.  (see photo below of stamp images)  I stamped it with a new Distress ink called Bundled Sage over white card stock.  Then I overstamped it with the same stamp using Distress Spun Sugar.   I sprayed a light coat of Candlelight Glimmer Mist over it and added  Antique Linen around the edges.

The verse is stamped with Versafine Black Onyx and clear embossed.

I also stamped the butterfly with Black Onyx.  I used watercolor and Spica markers to color it. It's mounted with foam under the wings to give it dimension.  I drew the antennae with a fine tip marker.

Here are the stamped images I used. (sorry the photo and stamping aren't the best) I masked the little butterfly when I inked the verse for my card.
The big butterfly is part of  a larger stamp.  I simply cut out the butterfly.  The 2 center images show the stamp and ink colors that I used to create the patterened paper. 

This is what the paper looked like after stamping and a light mist of Candlelight Glimmer Mist.  For the card I added Antique Linen to subdue the color a little bit.  The somewhat blured image of the stamp worked really well for this technique.  I rotated the stamp to make the pattern random.

I used the same stamp with Versamark to add a faint pattern to the card front.

The looped edge.....isn't it pretty?.....was created with 2 Martha Stewart punches.  One cuts the corner and the other punches the edge.  Sorry, but I don't remember the name of it.  The mat was cut from a piece of an old manilla file folder.  I added a touch of Antique Linen to the edges.

Check out this post on the Artistic Outpost blog for their birthday celebration!  Submit a birthday themed project for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate!  Check the AO blog for more details.

"March is a party month at Artistic Outpost! One of the owners and THREE of our design team members are having birthdays this month. Happy Birthday, Shelley, Lisa, Gerrie and Shelly! Matter a fact, they all share the same birthday!

We are also helping our friends over at Gingersnap Creations celebrate their first birthday with some Artistic Outpost Blog Candy*. Gingersnap Creations is a collaborative blog for stampers and mixed media artists."
Wishing you time enough to stamp today!

Enjoy each moment!
-judy

Metal Butterfly

I created this embossed butterfly by stamping the scroll butterfly stamp from Artistic Outpost's Happiness set using StazOn on the back of red craft metal. Then, using Ten Seconds Studio embossing tools, I went over the design with a stylus. Once I had it completely embossed & refined, I removed the red on the butterfly by carefully rubbing solvent stamp cleaner over the raised areas. This can create disaster if too much solvent touches any areas that should remain red.......try it very carefully! I added black acrylic paint to "antique" it rubbing it off the embossed areas.

The frame was cut out of black card stock with Labels Four and Curved Rectangles Spellbinders dies. Once I had it cut, I embossed it with the dies in place and a Butterfly Impressabilities. That created the embossed pattern and a nice embossed edge. I used metallic Rub-Ons (a product I've had for a very long time that seemed appropriate for this) over the embossed pattern. I actually started with red, then added pewter, then black & silver....... I couldn't decide what color I liked best!

The red mat was stamped repeatedly with the scroll butterfly and then cut with a larger Labels Four die. I distressed it a bit with Distress Black Soot.

I used the same Butterfly Impressabilities for the black mat. It's mounted on a light gray card with Black Soot applied to the edges.

Three silver cords are glued around the red mat with little silver brads at each end.

I think this would be a great addition to the front of a journal.........an idea that came to me after I had this card almost finished. Next time........

I hope this inspires you to try embossing one of your stamped images. You can easily use a stylus or even an empty bic pen to create the embossed lines. Place your metal over fun foam or even a magazine......something somewhat soft. Work from the back to make the raised lines on front. Outline them on the front to get nice crisp edges. Leave a comment or send me an email if you'd like more info..........

Learn How to Fly

I just created this card for Artistic Outpost using stamps from the Happiness set. I started with the "learn how to fly" image knowing I wanted to stamp & cut out another butterfly to create dimension. Since I wanted to color the butterfly with my Copic markers, I used the Memento Danube Blue for stamping because it's water based & won't react to the Copics. Once I had the main image created, I couldn't find a paper that I liked for the card front......I only have about 3 Iris containers of DP. You'd think I could find something to coordinate!

That led me to create my designer paper. I sprayed white paper with Lemon Meringue Glimmer Mist, then added Patina & more Lemon Meringue. I stamped the small butterflies with Memento Summer Sky, Dandelion, & Bahama Blue. I added the dots & speckles along the edges using Danube Blue, sometimes stamped off first. Voila! a paper with shimmer that looks great with my butterfly!

Across the bottom, I added a strip of the yellow Bazzill Bling under the ribbon. Otherwise the ribbon color washed out over the blue of the paper. The punched edge was created with MS Lattice Arc border punch. The Hero Arts Pearls were colored with Copic B05.

....some of the supplies that I used.

I also used Spica markers, Copic YR04 and Glossy Accents on the butterfly.

I hope you're inspired to "learn how to fly" when you create! Get outside your box & try something new. It's so uplifting to try something different.

Enjoy the beauty of this day!

-judy

Time Enough

The butterfly.............

.....has time enough!

I was inspired by the Tattered Angels butterfly frame to create this card along with the Artistic Outpost Happiness stamps.

The frame was first sprayed with Dreamsicle Glimmer Mist. Then I rubbed Memento Rich Cocoa ink over it to add color to the embossed areas.

The background was created by stamping the Happiness scrolly butterfly multiple times using Adirondack Stonewashed ink (I have the original pad which didn't have a name). I started with off-white paper.

I stamped one layer of butterflies without overlapping them.

Then I stamped them again filling in the open space by over stamping.

I rubbed Distress Broken China over the entire paper working on a Ranger craft mat.

The girl is stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa on white paper.

I colored her with Copic markers: B00, E00, E37, R20 YR07

The verse is stamped in Rich Cocoa also. I embossed it with clear. I added a sheer coppery brown ribbon, a brown mat to frame the background and mounted it on a light peach card. The card is Bazzill but I don't know the color name.

Such a fun color combination!

Enjoy!

-judy