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!

Ruby Rainbow Card

This anytime card is definitely not everyone's taste, because it's so busy, but I like the artsy feel of it. It will be for sale, along with many of my cards, in Colfax, Iowa, at Spring City Vintage. Whether or not shoppers looking for vintage items will be interested in this type of card is questionable, but I make what I feel like at the time, so we'll see.

 

I started out with a Dyan Reaveley style background:

 

I used her color-blocking style I learned at her workshop at Memory Bound in Ankeny, Iowa. I used Dylusions paints by Rangers in the colors of Black Marble, Crushed Grape, Vibrant Turquoise, and Fresh Lime. All the stencils were Dylusions as well. I also edged the paper in Black Marble.

 

Then I doodled over the background:

 

 

I mostly used a white pen, but I also used Dylusions Crushed Grape paint pen. The doodling was done purposely sloppy.

 

Then using the Ruby Rainbow stamps, also by Dylusions, I stamped out my images on to some old dictionary pages.

 

 

I colored the images partly with my Dylusions pens and partly with my Copic markers.

 

 

I cut the images out and glued them on my page. I went around the whole image with a wide black line to keep it from getting lost in the busy background.  I added "remember to take risks" with Tim Holt'z idea-ology Big Chat words, used my white marker to highlight the image and words, and then glued it to my card.

 

 

Here she is finished again. Thanks for checking out my blog!

Cheers,

Molly

Flying Heart Card

A Doodled and Painted Card

This card would work for a wedding, a baby, an engagement, Valentine's Day, etc. I left the inside blank so the sender can send it for whatever occasion they choose.

I started out by making a background using Dylusions paints and a Dylusions stencil. I believe the paint colors were Funky Fuchsia, Cherry Pie, and Pomegranate Seed. The stencil is a abstract brick design.  After the paint dried completely, I used a white pen to doodle a border. 

 

Then I cut a small piece of paper, rounded the corners and doodled a flying heart inside a frame, inspired by Joanne Sharpe's Doodle Art and Lettering book.  I water colored the heart doodle.

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And that's it!  This card will be heading for sale at Spring City Vintage in Colfax, Iowa.

 

 

Vintage Easter Cards

Happy Easter!

Here are a few Easter cards I made for sale at Spring City Vintage in Colfax. Each was made from a postcard from the early 1900s, and I added some B&T papers and embellishments.  I'm so glad spring is here!

 

 

Wendy Vecchi Inspired Vintage Card

(Second Post Today: Please scroll down to see a Key West layout post.)

 

"Her domestic skills were quite limited,

but she sure knew how to shop."

 



The background of this card is stamped, sprayed, dripped, and adhered to black cs. it's hard to tell, but the background shimmers with the bronze Perfect Pearls Mist spray I used. Then I added the ribbon and the CTMH pin. The lady and the sentiment are both from Wendy Vecchi's "A Flair for Art" stamp set. I colored the dress with Copic marked #R37 Carmine. The branches are from the tree on WV's "Mail Art" stamp set. The larger mat has red spray around the edges--I used a mask to only get the edges. Both of the mats are adhered with dimensional adhesive. All of the black embellishments are from CTMH's mini-medley black accent.



4th of July Card

One of my friend has a July 4 birthday, so I used CTMH's June SOTM "Kaboom" for her birthday card:

The colors are white, Outdoor Denim, and Ruby.  I ran a piece of Outdoor Denim cs through my Cuttlebug with a tiny polka dot folder, then I sanded the dots to make the white-on-blue embossed background.  The white shape was also made with my Cuttlebug, using the Spellbinders "Labels Two" die.  I stamped the fireworks from the "Kaboom" stamps using Outdoor Denim and Ruby inks.  I used CTMH Glitter Gel throughout the fireworks to make them sparkle.  The white fireworks piece is raised with dimensional adhesive and has a piece of red and white baker's twine tied around it in a knot.  "You're the BOMB" is attached with more dimensional adhesive on top of the knot.

 

Happy Fourth of July!

(and Happy Birthday, Donna!)

Life's a Beach . . . Enjoy the Waves card

This card is a little reminiscent of the Partridge Family--remember the family bus with the blocks of color on the side?  No partridges here, though.  There are little owls driving this VW van.  The image and sentiment are from the stamp set "Party Rollin" from Darcie's Heart & Home, a company whose stamps I'd never used before, but the clear stamps worked fine.

I used a black card base and cut the blocks of color from cs: CTMH's Cotton Candy, Lagoon, Honey, Pear, and Sunset.  I used Copic markers to color the image.  The paper flowers are from Recollections, and their centers are Licorice embellishments from CTMH.  I added a white piece of cs on the inside for writing and included the sentiment "The best wave of your life is still out there" (from the same stamp set as the rest).

Balloon Ride Cards

 

I made this set of balloon cards using CTMH's new paper pack, "Balloon Ride" and the new coordinating stamp set, "Give a Lift."

 

 

I added a little bling to the center of the rosette on each balloon.

 

 

I colored the images with Copic markers and added a row of bling on each card.

 

 

The images were stamped on Colonial White cs, colored, then cut out.  I used dimensional adhesive to attach the balloons so they pop up from the cards.

 

I haven't added sentiments to the cards yet, because I think they could work for several different occasions, and I'll wait until I need one before finishing it.

Wild About Love: Fox card

I don't know what all the other foxes say, but this one says "Just because."

Foxes seem to be second in popularity only to the owl right now.  I used my current favorite CTMH paper set, Lollydoodle again on this card.  The sentiment is from the stamp set "Cloud Nine," which is from a previous promotion and not currently available.  The little fox is part of CTMH's February Stamp of the Month set titled "Wild about Love," so it's ONLY available for the rest of this month.  I colored this fox with my Copic markers and added a CTMH "gem" for the flower center.  The three cute pink embellishments are new from CTMH and called Flamingo Dots.

 

Here's the CTMH promotional photo for the "Wild About Love" Stamp of the Month set:

Buzz and Bumble Thank You Card

Someone I work with gave me some fresh honey last week, and I have all these "bee" papers and stamps, so I thought it would be fun to make a bee-themed thank you card.

I used b&t papers from CTMH's "Bee and Bumble" paper pack with CTMH Cocoa, Sunset, and Cashmere cs.

I random stamped bee from the "Bee and Bumble" Workshop on the Go stamp set on the Cocoa cs.  The little bee and his flight path on the lower right are from a zip strip on one of the papers.  I couldn't find a "thank you" sentiment stamp I wanted to use, so I free handed it.  All edges are distressed with brown ink.

I also added a piece of the bee b&t paper to the inside of the envelope.

 

I really like the honeycomb b&t paper, but I didn't end up using it on the front, so I added a panel to the inside of the card and another stamped bee.

 

Sand Between Her Toes Card

Both the image and sentiment on this card are from Artistic Outpost's "Boardwalk" stamp set.  I colored the bathing beauty with Copic markers.  The B&T paper (Dakota) and Lagoon cs are both from CTMH.  The black strip of tape is from Recollections, and the embellishments are from CTMH.

Red & Blue Flowers Card

I made this simple card because I saw a card with a similar color palette and liked it.  The cs is all CTMH.  The polka dot background stamp is from InkaDinkaDo and was done with second-generation stamping with CTMH Slate ink.  The outside edge of the white piece was distressed with CTMH Bamboo ink.  The flowers are from an old CTMH set that I'll probably never stop using, Treasurers.  They are stamped with CTMH Pacifica and Cranberry inks.  "Hello" is from Paper Smooches, and the punched ovals are from SU.  The pearl embellishments are from CTMH.

Unity Owl Card

I did a free make and take of a fall card at a chain store this week that started with a 3" x 3" black card with white ink around the edge.  It was awful, but I did like the concept, so I made one of my own this weekend.

This little owl is from Unity Stamp Company's "Total Cuteness" set.  I colored it with Copic markers.

 

I used some rockstar red "Sparkly Fluff" from Our Craft Lounge on the wings for some sparkle and fluffy dimension. (Note: The photo shows eyeliner black fluff--I had the caps on the wrong jars.)  I also added some cinnamon Stickles to the end of the owl's eyelashes.



Pun Fun

I love this stamp set!--it's CTMH's Pun Fun C1505.  I've been into making simple cards lately with sparkly images highlighted in the middle (as you'll see in upcoming posts).   Here's the stamp set:

 

You can tell it's well-used already.  Here are some close-up pics of some of the cards I made with it:

 

I used my Cuttlebug on the background cs on each card for some texture.  I colored the images with Copic markers and added some glitter gel so they all sparkle.  Dimensional adhesive makes all the images pop off the card.  Very simple, but they turned out cute.  Any beginning cardmaker could make these.  To order this set and other CTMH products, go HERE to my Close to My Heart website.

She Knows Her Own Strength

     Back to blogging!  I have a lot of new post-Christmas inspiration and hope to spend a lot of time in my studio now.  I bought this stamp set online before Christmas from Artistic Outpost.  I like the image of the woman.  She looks like one tough broad, and I appreciate that.  The B&T papers are from CTMH's "Dakota" set.  I colored the images with Copic markers and distress ink, and distressed everything in black ink.
     Something I've just started experimenting with is art journaling and, along with that, sprays.  Here is an admittedly beginner's art journaling attempt I made:

It's becoming a new obsession, which is just what I need--a new reason to buy more art supplies.  This page includes sprays, chalk, ink, Copics, Stickles, Liquid Pearls, and probably more that I can't recall.  The journaling, which is hard to read in the pic, is "Life Is Far Too Short Not to Have a Little Umbrella in Your Drink."  The little umbrellas are in different colors--blue, green, and lavender. 

Evergreen Card

This crooked little tree and the surrounding sentiment come from CTMH's "Evergreen" stamp set.  I used second generation stamping for the tree stand, then tipped the tree for a little quirkiness.  There's a lot of Stardust Glitz making the tree shimmer.  I repeated the "merry and bright" sentiment stamp arround the whole edge of the pink background.   I'm getting close to using all of my Christmas stamp sets!

Avonlea Birthday Card

This card has several elements, but it's really simple and came together pretty quickly.  The papers are from CTMH's new Avonlea paper pack.  I freehand cut the banner pieces, punched holes in them and strung them with ribbon.  The ruffle towards the bottom is just folded paper that's been distressed.  I used a lot of CTMH's new Slate ink for distressing.  This might be my new favorite ink color.  The butterflies are from CTMH's "Delight" stamp set.