Monthly Archives: March 2008

I did a little stamping therapy session last night after receiving this stamp in the mail.  How cute is that Ostrich!

This is a self portait card.  When I seen this stamp, I had to have it.  It symbolizes me and the way I chose to live.  About 1 year ago I quit watching the news, all news!  My heart and head just can’t take it!!!!  So this is me the Ostrich.  Happy to have my head in the sand.

You can get this Ostrich stamp from My Paper Moon.  Here is the link:  https://www.mypapermoon.com/store/

Check it out!

Michelle, enough rambling already and get on with the tutorial you say.

Let’s get started.

Supplies:

Stamped Ostrich on Whisper White card stock with Black Stazon ink.

Colored his legs and neck, by outlining the insides of his legs with a Creamy Caramel marker and the outside of them with a Blush Blossom Marker.  His neck is colored by outlining both sides with Creamy Caramel and coloring in the middle with Blush Blossom.

Colored his back with Creamy Caramel marker.  I over colored with Creamy Carmel around his back area edges to make them darker.

Used a Going Gray maker around the edges of his back to get darker yet.  I’m trying to make a more gradual transition from his light back to his black feathers.

Used a Close to Cocoa marker to shadow his chest and to outline the insides of his legs and outsides of his neck for more definition.

Used a Versamark marker to go over the entire Ostrich. 

Note:  Color your lightest areas first being careful not to smear the black onto other areas or you will have a gray ostrich.  🙂 

Heat emboss using Clear Embossing Powder and a Heat Gun. 

Note:  Your Ostrich will look much darker after it is embossed.

Brayer Cool Caribbean ink onto sky area.

Brayer River Rock ink onto ground area.

Brayer Creamy Caramel ink onto bottom of card stock, but not covering all of the River Rock ink.

Stamped Itty Bitty Background stamp with Creamy Caramel and then With Chocolate Chip ink to make specks in the sand.

Sponged a little Chocolate Chip at the bottom of the card stock and right under the Ostrich, where he is sticking his head in.

Wanted the upper Sky to be darker, so I brayered on Taken with Teal over the upper sky.

Used a Close to Cocoa marker to define the sand around his head.

Used a Cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss two of my card layers.

Assembled card and stamp sentiment on it with Black.

 Finished card!

Thanks for joining me on my Self Portrait Therapy Session/Tutorial, lol. 

Have a blissful day that has no bad news!

Did you miss me yesterday?  I took the day off and did absolutely nothing but lay on the coach and watch a Godfather marathon on TV.  Sometimes you just have to have a complete down day. 🙂

But I did make it to the craft room this morning to work up a new tutorial for you all.  So let’s begin.

Supplies:

 Stamped Owl with Palette Noir Black ink on Whisper White Card stock.

This owl stamp was purchased from E-bay and I have no idea who the maker is. 

Colored the eyes with a Summer Sun Marker.

Heat set the black ink with a heat gun.

Went over the entire owl with a Versamark marker.  Be careful to clean your marker by wiping it on scrap paper before going over the white part of the image.  Some times the black ink will smear or make the white gray.  

Heat emboss the image with clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Brayer Not Quite Navy ink over 2/3rds of the card stock.

Brayer Night of Navy ink over top 1/4 of card stock and a little at the bottom of the card stock.

Wipe the ink off of the embossed owl with a paper towel and stamp weeds with Black ink.

Sponged Night of Navy ink around the edges of the card stock.

Decided the piece looked a little bleak so I over stamped the weeds with Old Olive ink.  Now that’s better, lol.  You know I make this stuff up as I go along, so please bare with me.

Adhered the image to Old Olive card stock and stamped the weeds again with black ink.  Since I stamped over two layers of card stock there was a gap in the images, which I filled in with a black marker.

Assembled card.  Another one finished.

This creation is a bit masculine, but we need a few of those cards too.

I’m so glad you could join me today for this tutorial.  Give it a try!

Have a super day!

Until tomorrow. .. .. . . .

Thought I would demonstrate in today’s tutorial how to put an object on a table/counter top using the emboss resist technique.  Your object could be a cup, vase of flowers, seashell, etc.   Use your imagination.

Let’s get started.

Supplies:

Stamp cup with Certainly Celery Ink.

Color it in with a Certainly Celery marker.

Color Right side of the cup with Old Olive marker and then color over part of the Old Olive with an Always Artichoke marker to create a shadow and some dimension to the cup.  You will also want to put a little Old Olive just under the cup on the saucer.

Go Over the Old Olive, Always Artichoke and part of the Certainly Celery, making it heavier on the right side.  This helps give a smoother graduation in color.  I am having my light source come from the left side 🙂

Colored in the top of the cup with Close to Cocoa marker.

Went over the entire cup and saucer with a Versamark marker.

Heat embossed it with Clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

 Masked top 2/3rds of card stock with post it notes.

Brayered Cranberry Crisp ink over unmasked area.  Let dry for a moment and then wiped the ink off of the embossed image.  I then removed the mask.  Note:  if you take the mask off of the card stock before wiping the ink off of the embossed image you run the risk of smearing the ink wear you don’t want it.

Flip the post it notes around so they are masking the Cranberry Crisp and brayer on River Rock ink.  (Note: this is what happens when you don’t clean your brayer well in between colors, lol, oh well.)

Removed post it note mask. 

Used a Post it Note to mask the center of the card stock, so I can make a border.

Sponged Brushed Corduroy ink on unmasked edges.

Removed Post it note and stamped Steam with River Rock ink.

Sponged Brushed Corduroy ink around edge of Basic Grey Design Paper Layer.

Assembled card, but decided the image looked a little flat, so I went to working putting in a shadow.

Sponged Cranberry Crisp ink under and to the right side of cup.

Sponged River Rock ink to the top right of the cup.

Finished card!

Thanks for following along with this tutorial.  Now you give it a try!

Have a warm and wonderful day!

Until tomorrow. .. . . . . .

 Ahhhhhh warmth!  My projects have been a little cold of late.  It’s time for some warmth and a little dabbled light.

Let’s get going. . . . . . .

Supplies:

Started out by punching a 1 3/8″ circle from the sticky part of a Post It Note and put it on my Whisper White card stock to use as a mask for the sun.

Brayered on Pretty in Pink ink over top 2/3rds of the card stock.

Brayered on Groovy Guava ink, but did not cover the Pretty in Pink ink all the way.  Working towards a graduation in color here.

Brayered on Regal Rose ink at the top of the card stock, but did not cover the Groovy Guava ink completely.  We now have a nice graduation in color.

Covered the sky area with Post it notes to mask it.  Be sure the post it notes are straight.  You don’t want your horizon to go up hill, lol.

Brayer on Soft Sky ink at the bottom of the card stock.

Sponge on Groovy Gauva ink right at the edge of the post it notes.  I use a rubbing motion for this so I don’t get speckles.

I also swiped a little Groovy Gauva ink across the Soft Sky ink, very lightly with my sponge.

Removed all of the masks and swiped some Groovy Guava ink over the Sun to tone it down a little.

Stamped Trees with Basic Black ink.  Sorry, this Stampin’ Up Trees Three set is retired, but I love it and will never give it up until someone comes out with something comparable.

Stamped leaves on trees with Basic Black ink.

Sponged Basic Black ink on for ground.  I did use a pouncing motion with the sponge for the very top of the ground to simulate grasses in the light.

Stamped horse with Basic Black ink.

Colored Horse in with a black marker.

I had some stray leaves stamped, so I drew in a couple of branches with a black marker so the leaves would make more sense in the scene.

I also drew in a couple of grasses at the base of the trees with the black marker.

Here I took a chance and stamped some small circles with Groovy Gauva and Pretty in Pink inks on and around the trees to simulate dabbled light.  I kinda like it.  It gives a little more life to the scene.

Stamped sentiment with Basic Black ink, using my Stamp-a-ma-jig for placement on the Groovy Guava layer.

Assembled card and here it is finished!

Hoped you enjoyed this tutorial and give it a try.

May your day be filled with warmth and sunshine.

Until tomorrow. . . . . . . . . . .. .

I love this Drama Queen image from Cornish Heritage Farms.  The Drama queen and the flourishes can be found here:  https://www.cornishheritagefarms.com/intro.php?osCsid=dtmnia8l444rr6anm95hm03995

You all know that stamping is my therapy, so after a rather long day at work I needed lots of therapy.  If you are looking for a fast project, this isn’t it!   But if you still want to follow along, grab a cup of your favorite brew and join be on my therapy session, lol.

And away we go. . . . . .

Supplies:

Punched a moon mask from the sticky part of a post it note and stuck it to Whisper White card stock.

Brayered Soft Sky ink at the top and bottom of the card stock.

Brayered Not Quite Navy ink at the top of the card stock and at the bottom.  I did not cover the Soft Sky ink completely, so I have a graduation in color.

Stamped the image from Stampin’ Ups Stardust set in both Soft Sky ink and Not Quite Navy ink.

Tore Post It Notes through the sticky part and used them to mask the ground area.  Sponged on Note Quite Navy ink and than a little Night of Navy ink at the torn edge of the Post It Notes to define the horizon line.

Removed Post it Notes and sponged Night of Navy ink around the edges of the card stock.

Really wanted the middle of the card stock to glow with light, so I decided to get really dark at the edges.  Sponged on Basic Black around the edges and a little into the Stardust images.

On to the Drama Queen!  On a separate piece of Whisper White card stock I stamped the Drama Queen with Palette Noir Black ink.  Heat set the image with my heat gun.  This helps keep the ink from smearing in the next steps.

Time to have some coloring fun using Prismacolor Pencils and Odorless Paint Thinner.   I don’t use blending stumps.  I just dip my pencil in the paint thinner and color with it in very small circular motions.  The paint thinner makes the soft leads melt like butter onto your card stock.  I start with my lightest colors first and graduate to my darker colors, blending as I go with the pencils. 

Sorry, some of the pictures are a little washed out.  My poor old tired eyes need lots of light to color and that tends to make for bad photography.  Bare with me, I’m not a professional, just flying by the seat of my pants every day on this planet!

Enough rambling, let’s color!

I keep a very small container that I poor about 1/4 inch of Paint Thinner in at a time.  I have a tight fitting lid for the container so I never have to pore it out.  I just keep adding to it when it gets low.

This is what I dip my pencil into as I color.  When coloring, you can tell when you need to re-dip your pencil in the paint thinner.  Your coloring won’t look as smooth.

Colored queen’s hands and face with Light Peach.

Colored her robes with Poppy Red.

Colored her robe in the spotted areas with Scarlet Lake.

Colored the heavily spotted areas of her robe with Rouge Cramoisi (spelling?)  Hard to see the color name on the pencil.

Each time I add a new color I blend it into the previous one to get a graduation in color.

Last pencil color, Tuscan Red was used right at the bottom of the previous color.  I also, picked my first color back up and darkened areas of her robe to create light and shadow.

Cut the image out using a very sharp Exacto Knife and glass mat.  When cutting with an Exacto Knife I don’t move the knife.  I move the card stock.  This gives you very nice smooth curves.  The only time I move my knife is when I am cutting straight lines.  Note:  if your knife starts to hang up on the card stock, you need to replace your blade.

I went over the black trim in her Robe with a Black marker to make it more dramatic.  It was looking a bit washed out.

Adhered the Queen to the scene using my favorite glue.

Stamped the flourishes using Basic Black ink.  Since I stamped over two layers of card stock (the queen and the background) it left little gaps in my flourish images, so I just cleaned them up with a black marker.

Finishing touches:  I didn’t like the Soft Sky Stardust images in the scene.  You just couldn’t see them well so I over stamped them with Not Quite Navy ink and then added a few more at the very top of the scene in Basic Black ink.

Are you still with me?  Well if so, we are finished.  I just added two layers and done.

I hope you enjoyed this therapy session, lol, I mean tutorial.  If you did give me a shout out in the comments section so I know.

Best wishes for a super day!

Until tomorrow. .. .. . . .

I realize it is Spring, but I wanted to do the Color Challenge on Split Coast Stampers and these colors just remind me of Winter.  If you would like to play along, here is the link:  https://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=335287

Supplies:

Stamped House on Whisper White card stock by first loading my stamp with Versamark and then Basic Black ink.  Heat embossed image with clear embossing powder and heat gun.

Colored the windows in with a Going Gray maker.

Went over entire house with a Versamark Marker and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

Brayered on Soft Sky ink for sky, keeping it darker at the top of the card stock.

Brayered on Going Gray for ground, keeping it darker at the bottom of the card stock.

Tore two Post It notes to use as a mask.  Note:  I tore through the sticky part so some of it is remaining so it will stick to the card stock.

Sponged on Soft Sky Ink right at the torn edge of the Post It Notes.

Moved the Post It Notes down a little on the card stock and sponged on Going Gray at the torn edge.  I’m just putting a hint of color on at a time.

I continue to move the Post it note mask down a little at a time and sponge more Going Gray ink at the torn edge each time I move it.

Decided I wanted it darker up around the house so I moved my Post it note again to the horizon line and sponge on Going Gray ink at the torn edge.

Stamped Trees with Going Gray ink.

Stamped Sentiment with Basic Black ink.

Added a shadow on the trees with a Going Gray Marker.

Created a bit of shadow under the sentiment by sponging Going Gray ink under it.

Assembled Card.  Here it is finished.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and feel inspired to try out the color challenge.

Wishing you a day that is much warmer than this card appears.  I think I will save this creation for next winter.

Until tomorrow. . . . . . .