Art Impressions Paper Piecing

This lovely "young lady" wearing those "cat's eye" yellow sunglasses - oh my!  What was out of style is now back in style.  I paper pieced her shirt and her skirt with coordinating colors of background papers.  The flowers and grass were added with AI stamps.  The greeting is in the same set -- and will be perfect for my sister-in-law who will turn 85 years young in February. She will enjoy the verse.  I added a masked sun, and cloud with my own home made cloud template.  I used stiff acrylic from packaging, and cut a strip about 7 inches by 4 inches wide. I drew cloud "bumps" with a magic marker and cut it on the lines. Then I just sponged with a variety of colors to create the sky getting near dusk.

I hope my sister-in-law enjoys the card as much as I enjoyed making it.

Have a great day -- and get inky!

Cards from My Card Parts Box

I think every stamper has a collection --large or small -- of pieces of cards from various activities.  A stamper (me!) might have been over zealous in creating background and made more than you needed. A stamper (me!) might have taken stamped images  along on a trip to use water colors on because they are easy to carry and easy to pull out and paint a while, Now that same stamper might  have more than she needed. A stamper (me!) might have made too many ATC's for a swap, and now you have extras. A stamper (me!)  might have had a card idea in mind, and then something happened - you were distracted and never finished using that particular image.   So after already created all of the cards needed for Technique Junkie stamps for 3 posts a week for all of February -- so now what do I do in the middle of a blizzard or blizzard recovery? It took until Monday for my driveway to be clear. And they were not able to clear our sidewalks until Wednesday. So I had to find something to do with my time!

I decided to pull out that box of card parts and challenge myself  to create cards from as many of these card parts as I can. So over the next few weeks I will show you about 4-5 cards in a post.  I will tell you when I know who made a particular stamp -- if I know who made it and I may not.  When I know what technique I used for the card, I will tell you that.  But when I moved from my larger stamp room to a much smaller stamp room, I had to sell stamps I wasn't using, and many of the backgrounds I made years ago and may not remember.  I will do my best on these two things, but there is not there guarantee that I will remember.  If I know I will tell you, if I don't know then I can't tell you.

The above ha card was created with a long retired Stampin' Up stamp and relatively recent  "Sweet and Sassy" stamp.  I water colored the couple, and the tag background was created with the Ant6ique Glimmers technique. 

Both the bird stamp and the verse are Stampin' Up stamps. I think the technique is Gradient Markers from the June Technique Junkies newsletter. The middle strip is only two different colors of card stock.

I donot know who created the stamp but it may be PSX.  It has been around a long time.  I don't remember the name of the technique of the background but I know I made it with plastic wrap.

And I don't know who made this stamp either. I don't remember the technique for the brown and gold strip but the layer of the top pink  layer is Antique glimmers.  

With showing you four cards a day -- I have five more posts to show you. Have a good day and get inky!  

More Blizzard Stamping

I will not wax poetic about the blizzard last Saturday. By now you have likely heard all you care to hear it about the news.  But while all that snow was coming down, I did other things and that included stamping.

So this is a scene I built.  I used two stamps from two different Stampin' Up stamp sets -- both are retired now.  And I used foliage stamps from Art Impressions.  I masked the one potted flower on the left and built up a bush on the right. I sponged the sky.  I did use Stazon to ink up the images so the ink wouldn't run.  I tried to create "shadowing" for the little girl and the 2 potted plants with darker ink for the grass.  The shadows were going off to the left. What do you think? Did I manage to effectively  create a shadowing effect?

Get inky these days! 

Stamping in the Midst of a Blizzard

So on Saturday we had a blizzard, I would prefer sunshine and warm temperatures.  I posted pictures of the snow on Saturday on my blog. There was no mail delivery  and the roads are not plowed at 6:11 PM on Saturday.  My guess is the township will plow our road sometime tomorrow. We are a small development and not  high priority roads to plow.

I never stepped a foot outside.  However,  my grandchildren has a great time trying to play in the snow.  But at ages 2, 4, and 7 only the 7 year can really maneuver very well in the very deep snow.  Because of the high winds, we can't make a good estimate of how much snow has fallen.  The National Weather service says between 2 and 3 feet and snow is to continue falling until the wee hours of the morning. So what did I do all day?  Well, I watch some of the weather news, watched my grandchildren play in the snow -- although the middlest could barely move in it!  See the dark blob above the snow drift -- that my 4 year old grandson --and of course his Dad is outside with the kids. It wasn't long before he was knocking on the door to tell us he made it!

In between watching them have fun, I stamped and colored, and stamped and colored. Over this weekend I have created about 6 cards.  I say "about" because as I write this on Saturday night the weekend isn't done and with all of the snow we have received no one is going anywhere tomorrow either.  So I will be stamping again.  Some things I have stamped I will not be showing you until February after the new Technique Junkie Stamps are released. I have some trips planned in February so I wanted to get ahead with my stamping and get things ready to post so I am not  behind.   There are some really neat stamps being released!  So stay tuned.

So this is one card I created on Saturday.  I wanted to challenge myself to incorporate some of the Art Impressions foliage and tree stamps with a stamp of a house from Heather's Stamping Haven in Nepean, Ontario near Ottawa.  Sadly she has now retired and her store is closed. So when I visit relatives there I cannot visit her store. 

The house was there with the sidewalk  steps and bushes and the one tree behind house.  But I added the second tree, all of the grass, and the flowers in the bushes.  But I think it looks like they were part of the scene gto begin with.When I bought the foliage stamps from Art Impressions -- this was the kind of things I was hoping to do.  

On Friday I will show you another card I created these snowy days. Then on Feb 1 -- the next Technique Junkie Stamp Release blog hop! 

Stay warm --- and get inky!  

Let's Roll!

Dog stamps seem to be important in this months Technique Junkie stamp release as there were three very good ones.I have used this stamp before this month.  It is called Let's Roll   http://techniquejunkies.com/lets-roll/.. I used Copic Markers and sponging to color the different aspects of the focal image.   I thought the embossing folder with the the cascading dots -- more at the top than the bottom reminded me of the foliage of the trees.  

I layered the sentiment from the Let's Roll stamp set and used a scrap for the brown bottom layer . Some torn vellum with some adhesive hidden behind the focal image and the sentiment finishes off the card.   As usual I use several layers to give the focal image a good background.

What new Technique Junkie stamps have you been using?   Are you getting inky today?    

Wind Sculpting After the Blizzard

Sometime around 10:00 last night, it finally stopping snowing after 24 hours.   At some point during the storm it was snowing between 1 and 2 inches an hour.  No one was going anywhere.  At some point we heard all of our local roads were closed except emergency vehicles. At some point fire trucks were stuck in snow but were able to get themselves out of the snow.  There were news reports of Mommies in labor and couldn't get to the hospital except in fire trucks!  The snow crew  for the HOA went around our streets just enough to get emergency vehicles through.  The Township plows our road but that didn't happen until the wee hours of this morning.  The wind has died down  and we are left with wind sculptures of snow.

I am taking these pictures with my phone without a flash and mostly from inside my house. This is my deck and table still in the shadows as the sun isn't shining on it yet. That won't happen till this afternoon.

To see the difference -- this is the tunnel my 7 year grandson made while playing in the snow late in the afternoon yesterday. The large dip in the snow near the railing post was created by my 4 year old grandson literally stomping and trudging his way through the snow. 

This is the same tunnel carved open a little more by the wind, and the sun shining through it. I had to open the door to get this picture because the sun was reflecting on the storm door glass.

And finally,  the overflow parking lot next to our home.  The wind had sculpted around all these cars and the shadows of the drifts has it's own true sense of beauty.

And throughout the storm, we never lost power while the wind howled. According to the online newspaper this morning, about 200 homes in our Township did lose power for a few hours.  So we  are grateful for electricity, heat, and running water.  

So this day will involve more stamping -- stay tuned!  And get inky!

SNOW, SNOW, AND MORE SNOW!

Any one on the East Coast of the United States knows it was going to snow this weekend.  People got in needed supplies and got ready to hunker down. We have known since  Monday there would be snow.  However, always the big question is, "How much snow?"   We live in an area where the forecast can change hourly and the weather prognosticators will tell you this area is quite difficult to forecast the snow.fall or rainfall amount - something to do with the topography or something like that To give you an example, the forecast this pat week went this: On Monday, they said 20 inches, on Tuesday they said 1-3 inches, On Wednesday they said 5-8 inches, on Thursday they said 10-16 inches and the kept with that until last night ...late, and then they said we would be in the bulls-eye -- on the edge of it but still inside the bulls-eye - which 2 to 3 feet. This time they were closer to being right but they were still wrong.

This was at 11:00 PM last night before I went to bed. This is the table on my deck.

This is the same table on my deck this morning and it is still snowing like crazy with no end in sight. We are in the Winter Storm Warning until 7:00 AM on Sunday. 

And this is the overflow parking lot next to our home.  And the snow removal folks Our Home Owners Association hires CLEARED  the parking lot of all snow about 11:30 PM last night.  

The folks in the truck with the lights on are part of the snow crew waiting for the boss to arrive.  I guess they are going to have at it again!

I am thankful for a warm place to be inside!  And it is still snowing and snowing and snowing!

UPDATE to the SNOWFALL:  They now expect we will have a total snowfall accumulation of three feet plus!

At 3:14PM today this is the view out the storm door to the front porch and sidewalk.  You can see the railing posts for the stairs.

And this is my deck with table and grill.  No longer distinguishable from the snow.  We have quite a bit of wind so there is a lot of drifting,

I am warm and stamping -- more posts to follow. 

A Perfect Companion # 2

Most folks like dogs, and some folks love dogs!  But this saying could apply to cats as well.

The focal image is stamped with Versafine balck ink and embossed with  detail black embossing powder.  It really embossed well for this card!

The Technique Junkie stamp Perfect Companions http://techniquejunkies.com/perfect-companions/ siperfect for the dog lovers in your life!  How many dog lovers do you know?

Get those fingers inky!

And More Watercoloring

This time I used Art Impressions stamps except for the words.

This snowy scene could be real for us this coming weekend. I would prefer pal tress and sunshine myself.  But the grandchildren are excited. It is fun to watch them and their excitement. My own preference would be warm and sunny weather.

Get inky on these cold and snowy days.

A Lovely Watering Can

Long, long ago or so it seems, I bought a Stampin' Up set called Old Friends.  It is now long retired and no longer available from Stampin" Up.   I know it was before I even thought about unmounting all of wood mounted stamps.  I was sort of "forced" into unmounting my wood mounted stamps because I had reached the place where  I had two choices -- 1. unmount them all to create or more space, or 2. stop buying stamps! As for any "hard core"  rubber stamper the second choice was not really a viable option!  So little by little, through a slow process over a period of 3-4 years I unmounted all of the wood mounted stamps I owned.  Well,  that is true except for a few exceptions -- all of my alphabet stamps and four Stampin' Up sets of tiny words.  I had been saving those for "last" and by the time I go to the end, I realized it was a good choice to leave them on wood. The tiny stamps for words and greetings stamp much easier and more cleanly when left on the wood blocks. And only in last four to five months have I unmounted all of the alphabet stamps I decided to keep. But this watering can was on the original rubber and  then on clear  acrylic cling stuff.  So I know it was one of the first few years of  wood mounted stamps turned into an unmounted stamp.

As you may know, I have been experimenting with the "style of  Art Impressions watercoloring."   While I am working on buying more of their water color style stamps, I am also trying to go through the stamps I have and trying to see IF I can use some of them with this style.  Some -- very obviously -- will not work. And some have very real possibilities!

One thing I am learning is the Art Impressions stamps have a ever so lightly larger outside line -- and that makes a difference. But it has been fun trying to discover which stamps will really work well with that style of watercoloring.

So perhaps you see  what i am talking about -- the lines on the stems and the edges of the lovely old watering can are  very delicate.  I never realized that before tonight when I worked on this card! You may be familiar with this set from Stampin' Up.  I added grass and flowers from from Art Impressions.   And the greeting on the front is one of those tiny word stamps from Stampin' Up that I chose not to unmount.   I sponged the sky. So what do you think? Does this watering can work with the Art Impressions style of watercoloring? 

I used an embossing folder for the main layering piece  of card stock and a ribbon and self stick jewels as embellishments.  I used Soft Sky ink to sponge the sky in the background. 

Will you get inky today? Have a wonderful day.  

A Perfect Companion

Today I used this cute little doggie stamp that emphasizes how many dog (or cat) owners feel about their pets.  Since I haven't had a pet for over 45 years, I am unable to empathize with pet owners but I see how many of my friends and family feel about their pets.  

I gave white card stock a few quick spritzes  of Art Anthology Coloration sprays http://techniquejunkies.com/products-and-accessories/art-anthology-products/ for the "ground" and the "sky."  Then I stamped Technique Junkie Blustery Day  http://techniquejunkies.com/blustery-day/.  I used a medium green ink over all, then I went back with a medium brown marker and went over the tree trunks. I used an embossing buddy to prepare my card stock for heating embossing. I stamped Technique Junkie Perfect Companions http://techniquejunkies.com/perfect-companions/ in Versafine black ink and used detail black embossing powder over all, shaking off the excess, and using my heat gun to heat emboss the powder.  

Wrapping some ribbon around the card base and using a brad to wrap around some of the ribbon finishes off the card.

Have an inky day!

Books Deconstructed

When I received this Technique Junkie Books Background stamp http://techniquejunkies.com/books-background/ in the mail from Pat Huntoon, my very first thought was of the Deconstructed Collage technique from a long ago Technique Junkie newsletter.  So I tried it but it didn't work out exactly how I envisioned it but that is OK too.  Often nice cards come as a result of our goofs, mistakes, or trials and errors.

The card above was my first try. Because I used embossing powder over Versafine black ink, all of the lettering in the books just melted together in squiggly line.  I had first used a variety of Colorations sprays on the white card stock and then I stamped with the Versafine black ink and used detailed black embossing powder.  You can find them here (they are mixed in with other Art Anthology products) - http://techniquejunkies.com/products-and-accessories/art-anthology-products/. I was disappointed in the look of the melted embossing powder and put that card stock and didn't use that card stock for a card until  many weeks had passed.  The final look sort of grew on me.

After I put the first trial and error aside (I actually had put it in the trash next to my work area and only a few hours later I rescued the card stock because I thought just maybe it is salvageable) I then worked on this one.

I used a variety of of colored dye based ink and stamped the books background on glossy card stock and set them aside to dry. Then I cut the "books" apart and then layered them again typically over the "base card stock" which was stamped in a pale gray color.

I used a portion of stamped area from  the bright pink ink punch a tag and layered the tag on other colors of card stock that coordinated with the colors of ink I used. I stamped the sentiment from the Technique Junkie stamp set Bookworms - http://techniquejunkies.com/bookworms-set-of-6/ - which has six different sentiments about books.    If you know a lover of reading these stamps are wonderful to use on cards for them.

Birds were punched out of other scraps from the deconstruction.

These book background and sentiments are just fun to work with.    I would love to see what you do with these stamps!

I hope I have inspired you to use some new stamps and to get inky today!

Dog Are Family Too

I clearly remember our family having dogs as I was growing up.  And all three of my siblings have or had dogs in their household as adults.  My husband and  I never had dogs in our family -- primarily due to allergies on my part.  I remember so well our dogs riding in either the front seat or the seat and often they had heads sticking out the open window with their tongues hanging out!  So this card is in memory of all the dogs our family had while I was growing up. 

I used Memento sepia ink so I could use my Copic markers to color the truck and the dog. I used my Copics to color the trunks of the trees and used a finger dauber to sponge ink on the leaves of the trees.

Background papers that reminded me of road trips are on a few layers.   And I slanted the focal image to show off some of those papers.  A few rustic type brads and the card is done!  

I used this Technique Junkie stamps: Lets Roll - http://techniquejunkies.com/lets-roll/. 

Books and Books!

By the time you are adult you have read many, many books.  Some were for fun, for were for school, and some may have been some type of "self-help" books. They may have been thick or thin. But no matter how you view books they have been an important part of nearly everyone's life experience. 

Then there are books that in series - perhaps as a young person you read Nancy Drew books or The Hardy Boys or the Boxcar Children books.  

If a persona enjoys reading fiction or historical or books with "heavy" topics to learn from, when you have been reading a book you are never alone.  You are with characters or with the author through the books. And that is what the sentiment says to us on this card today.

This was a very simple card to create for today.  I took my white panel and sprayed it with different colors of Art Anthology Colorations sprays. Then i inked up my books stamp with a sepia toned ink pad.  And I did the same from sentiment tag.  Iused these stamps from 

Technique Junkie stamps: http://techniquejunkies.com/books-background/   and a sentiment from the set http://techniquejunkies.com/bookworms-set-of-6/.   I added some ribbons and bling and I was done.  

What good book have you read lately?  Get inky today!

Water Coloring

When I was in junior high school I took a couple of art classes and loved them. I mostly did work in pastels.  They are more "forgiving" than water coloring.  Although, there are techniques an artist can employ when using water colors to get rid of errors. All of that being said, I love the look of water coloring and I certainly have used water coloring techniques with various mediums in my stamping.

One of the neat things about stamp conventions is that (in my opinion) the really good booths have either a "make and take" or a demo artist showing the techniques to use their stamps.   During the York, PA Heirloom stamp show/convention Art Impressions was there with a booth -- and for the first time!  One of the owner's was giving a demo.  The demo was wonderful.  I have long looked at their stamps and have admired the wonderful water color look they achieve with their stamps but I never really knew how to get that look. So I was quite excited to watch her paint away using a dry/damp paint brush, dye based markers, and watercolor paper. I sure hope they come back in October 2016!I learned a lot watching her paint.

This is one of the samples she painted that day.

I bought about four sets that day after watching her.  I tried to buy the bits and pieces that she used in what she was doing and to be able to paint some scenes.  Isn't it just beautiful?

Then I came home and tried out she showed us that day. I tried her water coloring "technique" with another stamp set I already owned to see if her technique could be used with other stamps. I used a very old stamp set from Stampin' Up. Some of you may have it in your collection of stamps. This is the ATC card I made using her technique.

I was fairly happy with my efforts in one evening. And the last week I have been trying the Art Impression stamps I bought that day. 

Here is the one I tried using the same stamps she used.  I don't think it is as good as hers at here, but I am pleased with the results of my effort. What do you think?

It is not "exactly" like here but I thought it was certainly OK! What new stamping or scrapping technique have you learned lately?

Have a wonderfully inky day!

A Landscape Background

This year I bought myself a new Nativity set.  It is quite simple and each figurine has a verse of Scripture on the front. It is unusual.  But it is pale - off-white with some light brown or antiquing to create simple detailing.  However, my dining/kitchen area has  pale peachy-pink walls.  So the figurines tend to blend into the walls and are not clearly detailed. They almost seem to disappear into the wall behind them.

So I decided I needed to put something dark behind the Nativity scene but what?

I decided what made the most sense - and was the most economical - was for me to paint a backdrop for the Nativity scene.

I bought some larger canvas boards to work with -- and my son-in-law will come up with a way for me to stand it up straight without the danger of it falling over on the Nativity figurines.

I used some regular tubes of acrylic paint I had on hand but I felt there not enough variations in the colors of the hills and one hill blended in to the next hill. So I decided to pull out my Art Antholgy Gel Medium paints. I blended some greens and browns and yellows and a clear coat called Splashed.

I used a cloud stencil on the sky using a variety of blues and cream  to create the sky. Then I used the cloud stencil with more blues and white and pale yellow acrylic paints with the stencil to create the cloud look and the variations in color in sky.  Then I added a moon. For that I used the universal tool that  all artists own and use frequently -- your finger tip!. I it some acrylic pain and made a circle with my finger tip. I decided it was "too white" so I used a little bit pale yellow on the white.

What do you think? Will this work for a background for the Nativity scene? I hope so.

So This is a PS. to my post.  Pat Huntoon asked ot see it behind the Nativity scene -- so here it is.

What do you think?

Happy New Years -- And NEW Technique Junkie Stamps!

January 1 is always considered a "new beginning." And this January 1, 2016 is no different.  Everyone is thinking about new things, new gifts, new resolutions, perhaps new relationships, and the Technique Junkie Design Team has been very busy thinking about NEW STAMPS! There were no new stamps for December but there are new stamps for January!. You can find all of the newly released Technique Junkie stamps here at this web site: http://techniquejunkies.com/january-2016-release/  .

If you are beginning the blog hop with me - you can always go back to the beginning at the Design Team blog sight -- http://techniquejunkies.blogspot.com/ . The blog just before my blog is http://techniquejunkies.blogspot.com and I am sure Pat or Jane have something wonderful to share with you today.

I am going to show you several cards with new Technique Junkie stamps.  First I will show you two Valentine's Day cards I created with a new Technique Junkie stamp.  It is called "Love Hands." #SD660. The direct link is http://techniquejunkies.com/love-hands/.   I also used Heart Frame - SS026 http://techniquejunkies.com/heart-frame-set-of-3/. I embossed dark pink card stock with an embossing folder with these cute candy hearts. I sponged extra color on each heart and I  used a Stardust glitter pen to highlight each letter.

And some Valentines are created for good friends --and not the love of our life, or our kids or grand-kids. This is a Valentine that would serve that purpose.  I also used these stamps Seeds of Today - SDX057 -  http://techniquejunkies.com/seeds-of-today/ and  Simple Sentiments 1b - http://techniquejunkies.com/simple-sentiments-1b/.  The focal image and sentiment was layered on a nice large tag.

 But then we also need birthday cards for family and for friends. I want to show you a new Technique Junkie stamp to help with the celebration of birthdays.  It is called SD632 - Happy Birthday Advice.  The direct link for this stamp is http://techniquejunkies.com/happy-birthday-advice/.

For this first card I used musical notes tissue paper over a white panel on which I sponged a lot of color. I used scallop oval dies to layer  a die cut of a cupcake.  I ran the cupcake die cut through my Xyron machine to get sticky adhesive on the top and the bottom. I added some extra glitter for the color in the cupcake. I wish you could see the shimmer!  Some fun multi colored button ribbon behind the focal elements tie the card together.

I used a small embossing folder on dark green paper.  I trimmed off the excess of the green.  I pressed my Versamark pad on the embossed portions and used some shimmery embossing powder over that.   More layers and some embellishments complete the card. I purposefully added two different lengths of the pearls (I had plenty) to give contrast and visual interest.

Now you are off to Karen McAlpine's blog at http://dreamingncreating.blogspot.com. There will be something delightful for you to see!  Karen is a new designer on the Technique Junkie Design Team and I am sure what she has to show us is just terrific!  

Please continue on to the end of the hop - which is Pat Huntoon's blog.  Don't forget the special sale Pat has right now -- 15% off any January release stamps when you order in the next week - until January 8, 2016!  

Here is the complete blog line up.  I have indicated my blog and who is next.  Happy hopping!  

 Design Team Blog http://techniquejunkies.blogspot.com

Judy Jackson http://judysstampart.blogspot.com  You are here!

Karen McAlpine http://dreamingncreating.blogspot.com Karen is next!

Pam DeChellis http://journeyawakensthesoul.blogspot.com

Marilyn Hughes http://DollsEtc.blogspot.com

Kathy Stacy http://craftynurse4u.wordpress.com

Jane Bosi http://janembosi.blogspot.com

Tonya Davidson http://stampintonya.blogspot.com

Beth Norman http://sunflowers-dragonflies.ca/blog

Pat Huntoon http://patstamps.blogspot.com