Wednesday, June 25, 2014

A Bokeh Challenge from "A Blog Named Hero"

Happy Hump Day everyone!!

It was a happy one here for the most part. I gave myself permission to do NOTHING today. Really that means no cleaning, doing laundry, working out...nothing tedious. I did experiment making chocolate bread. It turned out yummy but I think it was overcooked just a touch.

I also spent some time in my craft room, which wasn't so happy. I created a really cute shaker card for my nephew's graduation. The last step was to adhere a shaker box that took me a LONG TIME to create. I adhered it upside down and when I tried to pull it off, the whole card fell apart. I had to throw the dang thing out. I was not pleased!!

Anyway, I am here today to enter the challenge #46 from "A Blog Named Hero." The challenge was to make a card or project using a Bokeh effect. I chose to make a card.


The first thing I did was to take a teal card base and stamp with the My Favorite Things Bokeh stamp in Chipped Sapphire and Peacock Feather distress ink. Next I die cut the scalloped panel in white and stamped it with an image from the Mama Elephant set "Type It" in Pumice. I adhered it into the middle of the green card.


I then die cut the type writer and paper out of white and stamped them using stamps from the set using a watercoloring technique. I stamped the stamp in the ink and then spritzed it with water before stamping the die cut. I then took a paint brush and put watered down dots of Chipped Sapphire randomly on the front. I did the same for the paper. When each was dry, I adhered it to my card front.


Before adhering the paper, I curled the end and then used foam adhesive to give it a tiny bit of elevation. The last step was to adhere sequins randomly on the front.


I love how it came out and will be making a few more to have on hand for later!!

Again, I am entering this into the following challenge:



Thank you for stopping by tonight. I hope you have a great night!!

Nora
Supplies:


Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Entry

Happy Tuesday!!

It has been exactly a week since I started vacation and I am LOVING every minute of it!! Today I got to play with my Altenew stamps that I have had for a month. I attempted a distress ink watercolor technique.

The inspiration for my card was a Simon Says Stamp "You Gotta Have Friends" challenge. It was to make a card with a friendship theme. They wanted you to showcase Art Impressions stamps if we had them but for the life of me, I could not find the two I used to own. It is maddening when this happens. I probably gave it away when I went through my stamps last year, which is a reason to never get rid of anything. You just might want it down the road!!


I am probably crazy but I stamped and then painted each flower separately. First I stamped the black outline for each flower. For half the card, I used the solid stamps in two different shades of purple distress ink for the color, and then I used a wet watercolor brush to blend them together. That got old pretty fast so I then just painted the colors in. Can you tell where I started and where I ended?


In between the stamping of each flower, I stamped and then painted the leaves in. I then used two different types of pink distress ink to paint around the flowers.


After the flowers were dry, I stamped the "friend" sentiment in black onto the card front. I then took a slightly wet paint brush and went over it. I mounted the card front on a card and added the "hello" sentiment with foam adhesive.


My last step was to use a clear Wink of Stella glitter pen to give the flowers a little sparkle. I need to practice getting a good photo of this. It looks so pretty!!

This was a really fun technique but it took a long time. I don't think I would do this for just any card.

I thank you for looking at my SSS Wednesday Challenge entry.


Nora
Supplies:


Monday, June 23, 2014

Virtual Blog Hop!

Happy Monday everyone!! One week has gone by since summer vacation started and I am loving EVERY minute of it-even the ones where all I am doing is household chores.

Today I am posting in a Virtual Blog Hop. Miss Georgina, from the blog "It's Just too Random" and the creator of "Scrap Whispers" asked me to be involved. If you haven't ever browsed either of those blogs, run now and do so. This lady is SO CREATIVE!! She scrapbooks, makes the most FABULOUS cakes, makes cards, dances, and has many more talents then I can list here. Georgina is from the UK and I "met" her virtually on a scrapbook web board years ago. However, this summer I will be meeting her in real life, along with Rosey, from the blog "Squirrel's Nuts." I could not be more excited to meet up with the two of them after knowing them all these years.

For this Virtual Blog Hop, I am to answer some questions about my creative process. I usually am creating later at night or on the weekends so it doesn't tend to be a ton of stuff. The darn house work gets in the way!

1. What am I working on?

Right now I am working on my layout for "Scrap Whispers" but I cannot show you that!! It is top secret until the big reveal in July.

I also am making cards, which I tend to make in between any type of scrapbooking I do. I can try new techniques or use different materials that I don't want to do on my pages. Right now I am experimenting with different watercoloring techniques. I need a lot of practice because it hasn't been great!

Copic coloring is another technique I am working on. I have been doing it for a while but it isn't until my last two cards that I actually think I am getting the hang of it.


This is a stamp by CC Designs. I created this card for my niece. Isn't she cute?


I really worked on getting her hair perfect and the blue on her pants and over shirt. I do not know how to do shadows correctly yet but I am OK with that. Baby steps!!


The second card has a Christmas theme to it.


This is another CC Designs stamp. I am happy with the way he came out too. So much better then my last attempts at Copic coloring. I LOVE this reindeer and will be making a few more of these cards to go out to some "special" people in my life...


I used a Wink of Stella clad glitter pen to color over all the lights to make them sparkle. I tried to capture it in the photo but it is hard to see. I used Glossy Accents on his nose to make it shine.


My photos do not do this card justice at all!!

As a crafter, I am always trying new things.  I bought a skirt pattern, some muslin and a zipper and am determined that by the end of the summer,  I am going to know how to sew a skirt out of REAL fabric. I took sewing in 7th and 8th grade and have only sewed things for crafting. Sewing clothes is a whole different ball game. It is something I would really like to get back into so eventually I can make custom clothes for myself.

I also bought a silk scarf and some dyes. I have always wanted to try to dye my own fabric so will be a fun experiment. I am hoping I at least will have a nice scarf at the end of it all.


2. How does my work differ from others of this genre?

I have to admit that I don't really know how to answer this. Any craft I do is done primarily as a hobby. I scrapbook to document the life of my daughter, Charlotte in photos and journaling. I want her to look at the pages I create and read the journaling to help her remember her childhood. My mother died when I was 23 and with her, all the stories with her. I was determined that this would not happen with my daughter.


I tend to scrapbook in a more simple way, with the focus on the photos. Occasionally I try a new technique and go full throttle but since my scrapbooks are so important to me, I play it safe.



My card making is a result of my curiosity and enjoyment of paper crafting in general. I love to try different techniques and use this as a form of stress relief.


This card, for example, was all about using a piece of the phone book as patterned paper. I had seen others do this but I wanted to try it. I chose to use neutral colors with the POP of red.

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

Other then documenting my daughter's childhood, I primarily create for myself. It is essentially a form of relaxation and a way for me to use my brain in a different way then I do at my job. I love to try new techniques and get my hands dirty. I often laugh because my hands always seem to be covered in ink and some kind of sparkle. I have gone to work more then once with glitter on my face...even though I had taken a shower after crafting.

4. How does your creating/writing process work?

I use a few different processes when I work. Sometimes the products inspire me to want to create a card or a layout. I am a huge fan of Paper Trey Ink, WPlus9, Simon Says Stamp and My Favorite Things and I browse their blogs regularly. For scrapbooking, I primarily browse and buy from Scrapbook.com. Their huge amount of paper crafting supplies cannot be beat.

Other times I have seen a fantastic photo with fabulous colors that I want to use. I am a huge fan of Pinterest and am often on it while watching TV or waiting for Charlotte at one of her activities. I am always surprised at the unusual things I find on this site. Anthropologie.com is another one of my favorite places to go for inspiration. I can get an idea or color scheme from a piece of clothing, a dish or even a pillow. I constantly browse their collections to jump start my creativity.

I also am presently also following blogs that host challenges for card making. When my creativity is slow, these type of sites help get my mojo started. I am of the belief that inspiration is all around us, you just have to see it!!

I thank you for joining me today and hope that you enjoyed my post.

Have a great day!!

Nora

To see supplies for each of my projects, click on the links below.

Celebrate Card
Merry and Bright Card
Adventures with the Aunts
Telephone Card





Monday, June 16, 2014

Happy Graduation!!

Today the senior class is graduating at my local high school. They are great kids and I am going to miss the class of 2014!! In honor of the students moving on, I am sharing two cards that I created.

The first card is very simple. Using a My Favorite Things background stamp, I stamped five blue lines on a white card stock background. Next I die cut a white card front with the word "congrats" and misted blue and silver shimmer spray across the front.

I will let you in on a little secret-I really didn't want to use mist spray on this cad. However, I got a little bit of blue ink on my fingers, not realizing it and it got onto the card front. Instead of throwing away all my work, I covered the mistake up with the mist. I think I like it better this way too. A happy accident!!


While the mist was drying, I die cut and stamped a graduation hat in blue. My shimmer dried fast so I adhered the card front onto the white card with foam adhesive, making sure that the blue stripes peeked through the die cut sentiment. I used foam adhesive again to adhere the cap strategically over the R.


I was going to be finished at this stage but the car was calling out for something more. I decided to adhere 3 sequins randomly on the card front and use a Wink of Stella glitter pen on the hat. Can you see the shimmer? I really like how this card came out and it was fun to do.

Supplies:



My next card is one I created using scraps from my desk. I often die cut more then I need and then put them aside. I decided I had enough pieces from another project to make a card.

The first thing I did was mist an Aqua Mist die cut panel using two different shades of shimmer. Because I was impatient, I used my heat gun to dry the mist so I could get on with the next step of adhering the doilies to the panel that were die cut from the same color card stock. The card front was then adhered to an Aqua Mist card base.


On a strip of patterned paper, I stamped a sentiment and then adhered it to the card. My last step was to adhere the vellum butterfly and the button threaded with twine.


 I figure that I can use this card for a birthday or a graduation. Butterflies symbolize so many things-change is one of them. Your life definitely changes after you graduate!!! I haven't decided what I will do with it but I am sure that something will come to me.

I thank you all for browsing today. Have a fabulous beginning of the week.

Nora

Supplies: