Mixed Media Canvas

Oh my! I have a new found love/addiction for deli paper! I've been on sites watching videos on how deli paper is used for quite a few months. I just put it in the back of my mind to try sometime. Then I found this stamp from Everyday Valentine at Joggles and I knew I had to buy it. I didn't know what I'd use it for however. When I ordered the stamp I picked up a small amount of deli paper to try. I will definitely need to buy a larger quantity.

For my base I used a 6x6" canvas panel. The background was created using Dylusions paints and my Gelli Arts gel press printing plate. I've had the 6x6" and 3x5" plates for a few years. When I went to a stamp show in June I picked up the 8x10". Love it, I'm so glad I splurged on it! I used three different paints and then printed my background. Because it's kind of a messy job I went ahead and created two more backgrounds on deli paper at the same time. I'm going to use those for canvas projects also.

I added some texture to the background with some translucent embossing paste and some stencils by accident. I meant to grab my white paste. Since you can't see the translucent, I grabbed another stencil and used the white paste. For the flowers I used some I had in my stash from Recollections. The smaller ones where already colored. The larger ones were white so I used distress ink with water on my craft mat and ran them through the ink. After they were dry I matted the sentiment with DCWV burlap, adhered the flowers and my canvas is ready to hang out in my craft room!

I had two scraps of the background paper left. Because I can't toss things, they are large enough to use for two cards. I'm going to go work on them now. I'll post them later.

Thanks for stopping by!

Many Thanks

I love Dyan Reavelys Dylusions Paints! They are so creamy and fun to work with. I bought one of her journals to use the paints in but I've mostly used them on card backgrounds. 

This card uses a stamp set from Simon Says Stamp called Many Thanks. For the background I used Dylusions paints and bubble wrap.

Thanks for stopping by!

Here Comes Life

I made a ton of cards over the weekend. I played around creating backgrounds and tried a few techniques I've been wanting to try for awhile. 

I still have some that I have to adhere down to the cards yet and a few I'm still debating on whether or not to add some bling to. Sometimes I can't make a decision and have to look at them awhile in order to figure out what I want to do. 

For this card I decided I didn't want to use any bling or sequins. I created the background using Dyan Reavely's Dylusions paints and a one of her stencils. The sentiment from Penny Black was heat embossed with clear embossing powder 

I have a few more techniques I want to play around with so I'm hoping to get some time tonight or this week. I guess it all depends on how exhausted I am after working all day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have A Beautiful Day

Since I had my Dylusions paints out this past weekend I decided to use the same colors I used on this card to create another one. I don't like to waste the paint even if I just have a small amount left on my craft mat. I just used a piece of cardboard and a texture tool by Tim Holtz. Love the randomness of creating backgrounds. Stamp set used for the sentiment is from Hero Arts called You're So Lovely.

Thanks for stopping by!

Do Things That Make You Happy

I worked on cards on and off all last weekend. I was working on cards for my swap partners for May and on cards that are called "Angel Cards". These are used for the swap groups when a swap partner can't sent a card to one of the members of their group. I didn't get finished with them and will post after they have been received. I tried to make clean and simple cards this month.

I did get a few cards finished that I'm not going to use for swapping. This card is one of them. I used Dyan Reaveley's Dylusions Paints with bubble wrap for my background. I then went in with a texture tool from Tim Holtz and added the second color. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp.

Thanks for stopping by!

April Swap Cards

I was a little behind in getting my cards out this month! Instead of mailing them on the 15th, mine didn't go in the mail until the 17th. I'm a poky card maker so I had to step it up a bit to get them finished. Generally I don't wait this long but I started a new job on April 4th and I haven't had a lot of creative time. I've been too exhausted at night to do much. By the time I get home it feels as though my head is going to explode from everything I'm learning during the day. It's going to get better, but for now that's the way it is. 

For the card above I used a Hero Arts Clings stamp called Leaf & Floral background. I heat embossed the design and then watercolored with distress inks. I can't remember which colors I used for this card. The sentiment is a Penny Black slapstick/cling stamp from the Life's Messages set. 

The card below does use a background that I had in my stash that I made a few weeks ago when I had my Gelli Arts plate out. When you are using that it's a good idea to make a lot of backgrounds because it's a messy project. I used Dyan Reaveley Dylusions paint in Cut Grass for the background. I used cork from the DCWV Cork Solids Mat Stack for the field grasses. This die is from Die-Namites. Sentiment is from Stampin' Up called World of Dreams.

This next card was stamped with a Hero Arts Reversed Flowers & Leaves background and heat embossed with white embossing powder. I then took three distress crayons in picked raspberry, mustard seed and twisted citron and used my finger to rub them in on the background. The sentiment is from The Right Words stamp set from Dylusions. I heat embossed it and then used a Spellbinders die to cut it. 

My last card was a little bit of a struggle. I'm still learning how to stamp flowers. I'm getting better, but I'm not where I want to be yet. I used this card by Yana Smakulav as the inspiration for mine. The stamp set is by Hero Arts called You're So Lovely. I used Altenew crisp inks in coral berry, ruby red, frayed leaf and evergreen.

I hope my swap partners like the cards I've sent them. Thanks for stopping by!

January Card Swap

It's time to share my cards again that I made for a swap I belong to. We took the month of December off. These are the first cards I've made since November. I didn't even get Christmas cards out this year. I started them and just never finished. I've played around with different mediums and created some backgrounds but that's about all I've managed to do. I really felt like I was struggling when I was making these cards for the swap. I'm hoping that getting back to it each month will get me going. I've even thought I should participate in a few cards challenges thinking that might help to get my creative juice flowing again. 

For this card I used Kuretake watercolors. I watched a video series by Justine Hovey on watercolor and tried this technique. I used a background stamp from Hero Arts called Hexagon Background CG517. I heat embossed with white embossing powder. Sentiment is from PrintWorks F2545.

I used Dyan Reaveley's paints for this card with a stencil by Stampin' Up called Happy Patterns. I love these paints and have nothing but wonderful things to say about them! Sentiment is by Hero Arts C4482. The below also uses her paints. Stencil is from Hero Arts called Petals Pair and sentiment is from PrintWorks E2627.

This card uses a Hero Arts background stamp called Floating Flowers CG124. I again used Kuretake watercolors. I know this looks pink but I actually used red. I think when I rolled my paper towels over it while it was wet it really made it lighten up. Sentiment by PrintWorks D3613.

Now it's time to get started on the cards for February! Thanks for stopping by!