Monday, February 22, 2016

New Quietfire Design Stamps! Just living is not enough/ The greatest strength is gentleness

It's really hard to stay in creative doldrums as a member of the Quietfire Design family, 
especially when the new quote stamps fit on an ATC!

The background is an all over print stamped in Distress antique linen.

is stamped in VersaFine sepia and heat embossed with
Ranger Superfine clear embossing powder.
The flowers are hand sketched with a Distress antique linen marker and colored with tattered rose, victorian velvet, mowed lawn and peeled paint. 
The mini pads are good for getting the ink onto your craft sheet. They are very juicy, and just a tad of water is needed to get the right consistency for painting, using a #4 round brush.
I highly recommend Cheap Joe's golden fleece brushes. They are very inexpensive so you can buy enough to use a separate brush for each color and medium that you use.
The edge is gold watercolor with an 1/8th flat brush.

This ATC is one of a series, so I took a short cut and stamped the sunflower in VersaMark and heat embossed clear.
The background was applied pad to paper, Distress salty ocean and the areas close to the flower were applied with a felt marker replacement nib.
Painting done with  #4 round brush and Distress mowed lawn, peeled paint, squeezed lemonade and mustard seed.
Water was flicked on with a brush.
When completely dry, iron the card between two pieces of clean absorbent paper to remove the embossing.
This is needed for the stamping to take to the paper.

is stamped in VersaFine onyx and thermal embossed clear.
The edge is sponged on Delicata Golden Glitz.

This is #1 in the series

and a Brave Girl Card


on the back

A few more ATC's using digital files and DecoArt products.
The mineral based watercolor paint resisted the oil based VersaFine ink. It still embossed well, so there is some mystery to be explored!

Celtic knot work file using a gold gel pen.

Comments and Questions always welcomed!





Wednesday, February 17, 2016

WOYWW - 350 Going Green!

I am very tired of winter weather.
St Patty's day is traditionally the day to plant peas!
I'm ready.
Suzanne of Quietfire posted St. Patty's Day and Celtic files this week and I was right on it!
New stamps i can't show yet, expressive flower painting, random papers to cover light switch covers.
Brave girl cards.
The Amour that didn't quite make it- a broken heart card?
Pick a Stick Challenge in the upper left.
All in a deskers day!
What else can I say?
Thanks for visiting and I hope to visit as many of y'all as I can!

Comment and Questions Always Welcomed!

Friday, February 12, 2016

Pick a Stick Challenge - February 2016

February has brought cold winds 
and 
The challenge is to create a "page" using all of the prompts chosen in order.
 My ATC using all the elements
front
and back
  1.  My die cut, Calligraphic Elements I, from A Way With Words By Elizabeth Craft Designs is freezer paper used as a mask, watercolored and then peeled off.
  2. "The flourish moving through my heart can open it or rip it apart"
  3. No foil, so I used gold leaf bits, adhered with DecoArt Decou-Page matte, my new fave medium.
  4. Cut the tiny heart with a hole punch.
  5. Rubbed DecoArt Metallic Luster on a metal charm and adhered with the Deco Page- seems to be hold well!
  6. No gel prints, so I cut the little hearts from my never ending stash of paste papers! Added a drop of Triple Thick for gloss.
  7. The napkin( the weird blobs on the top and bottom and on to the back of the card) had a flower print when I put them on- yes more Decou-page.Added a bit to the back of the cut out heart.
  8. I got a bit carried away. Some of all the above !
  9. Calligraphic Wings by Quietfire. Wish they stood out more- should have embossed them. Every heart deserves wings!
  10. Working to bring out the flower on the napkin, I added paint and drew in it. Oh well. It is what it is!
I'm sticking to my ATC , and them journaling page format. It works for me.
The inspiration of all in the group is worth the price of participation !

Comment and Questions always welcomed!


Wednesday, February 10, 2016

WOYWW 349 - XO - Amour

Amour!
Ain't life grand!
Lots of what you see here is explained ( somewhat)

The rest is a mishmash of  painting, Brave Girl Cards, Pick a Stick Challenge and the general piles that grow on my desk!

Be Brave!
Lovely of you to stop by!
Comment and Questions warmly welcomed!

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Quietfire Design V-day Digital Cards and New (to me) Deco Arts Products



I enjoy making Valentines day cards and the new cutting files from Quietfire Design's Suzanne Cannon in the Silhouette Store do not disappoint , and they are on sale!
Very different looks can be created with this file.
Heart Tree Card
15 minutes                                                                                          A bit longer!                                  

On the mat
The above file just needs to be ungrouped, cut and pasted.


I'm a new member of the DecoArt Helping Artist and Blogger Outreach Program.
DecoArt sent me some new(to me) products to play with, and I used 

I'm in love with this paste. Rub it on almost anything to get a true metallic shine.

Then I messed about to get a very different feel with the same file, the patterned paper card above.
A guy card?

The hearts are cut from Elizabeth Craft Designs Velvet Paper.

 This Brave Girl Card began as white Neenah and  was rubbed with a cloth with the Gold Metallic luster.
A fine line of Triple Thick Gloss was brushed on the edge and sprinkled with Gold Glamour Dust.
I like the distressed look of the edge.

is A Way With Words Die cut from the ECD Velvet paper. 
 Thinking the Triple Thick was like Glossy accents I used it to addd dimension to my message.
It doesn't stand up as well as GA, and clouded a bit.
I used the Decou-page to adhere  the messages. It holds well, dries quickly and the matte finish disappears if it gets where you don't want it.

Here the Danke die cut was cut from freezer paper and ironed on as a resist.
 Applying the Triple thick from a fine point helped it to set up better.

The back, embellished with the Metallic pastes and stamped in VersaFine.

 Glittered glue dots and tape, messages in Triple thick and the card sealed in Decou-Page

I hope you will try the Quietfire Design and DecoArt products to create some love for V- Day and every day!
I'll be using more of the DecoArt products in days to come, so if you have a specific product or technique you want featured let me know.

Comments and questions lovingly welcomed!






Wednesday, February 3, 2016

WOYWW 348 -Black Out Poetry!

Shout out to Julie Bagamary  for the demo on Blackout Poetry at the Fiber Arts Alliance Meeting yesterday.
Julie also gifted me with the wonderful fabric ATC's

A friend is more to be longed for than the light; I speak of a genuine one. And wonder not: for it were better for us that the sun should be extinguished, than that we should be deprived of friends; better to live in darkness, than to be without friends. 
- John Chrysostom

Online Watercolor Class
I have to admit I really like the online classes. I can go at my own pace in my pjs and can only compare my work to myself!
I make a lot of tags documenting the techniques as I go along so I can remember how I did what I did.
I'm in love with the pears!

Thanks for visiting friends, and for welcoming me to all your desks!


Comment and Questions always welcomed!