Art Impressions Beach Card

"I Smell Old People."

I am very happy with how this beachy card turned out. I've been practicing my beach (sky, water, & sand) backgrounds with Ranger Distress Oxide Inks. I added some Glossy Accents to the water to look like waves and the water's edge (both look white in this picture). The very front of the sand is made with Flower Soft. It may be the first time I've used Flower Soft in the years and years I've had it. I don't know if it's even on the market anymore, but I thought it looked like dry sand.

The stamps are from Art Impressions. I'm not sure of the actual stamp names because I've thrown away the packaging, which isn't like me. I'm guessing they are older because I keep the packaging now. I colored the stamps with Copics and added little touches with Nuvo drops here and there.

 "I smell old people. Oh wait, that's you." is from the Tim Holtz Ideology Snarky Small Talk set.

The mat around the scene is a paper from the BoBunny 6x6 Beach Therapy Collection papers.

As long as the recipient has a sense of humor, I think this card would be appropriate for a birthday, retirement, or anniversary.

Celebrate Card

All-Occasion Bird Card

The main bird on this card was stamped with a bird from Diane Wakley's "Scribbly Birds" stamp from Ranger. It is colored with Tim Holtz Distress Crayons, also from Ranger. The music notes are Tim Holtz/Ideaology washi tape. The background paper is a sheet torn from an old dictionary. The feather and "Celebrate" are retired CTMH stamps. The ribbon is a scrap from somewhere.

I made this card on a day when I was trying to use some supplies I hadn't used for awhile. Sometimes gathering supplies outside what I usually use inspires me to make something unplanned and different.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Metal Deck Ornament

I've had this metal deck ornament/mobile for years. I liked it a lot when I bought it, but it probably should have been thrown out years ago because the paint was so worn and faded:

 

I'm so glad I didn't throw it out! A month or so ago I went to an all-day class with Ranger designer Wendy Vecchi. One of the things I learned is that her archival ink coupled with her embossing powders work on metal. You can change the color of anything metal--permanently!

 

First I cleaned the pieces up. Here's what they looked like--pretty bad:

 

 Next apply the archival ink.  I used Buttercup for the sun and star and Cornflower Blue for the crescent moon.

 

After the whole piece is inked (you might not be able to see the color--especially a light color like I used), apply the embossing powder. I didn't take a picture of this step, but it's just like embossing on paper. Apply a generous amount of embossing powder on the wet ink. Use a piece of clean paper underneath your project so you can keep and reuse the powder that doesn't stick.

 

Then melt the embossing powder with a heat gun (not a hair dryer!). You might have to do these steps more than once. You can see a few areas I had to do a second time.  Also, be careful when heating the metal--it gets HOT in your hand!

 

Here's a side-by side look at the difference (courtesy of my phone's photo collage app): 

 

And a picture of all the pieces completed. It's quite a difference!

It's hard to see except on the moon, but I also added some highlights on each piece with Ranger's gold embossing paste. I just applied it with my finger and gave it another shot with the heat gun to set it.

 

And one last shot of the ornament re-hung on the deck after being spray sealed for outdoor use. Much better, right?

 

Nothing metal inside or outside my house is safe! I'm going to be re-coloring everything metal.