Online Card Class

Last week Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner, along with other instructors, taught another Online Card Class.  This was Clean and Simple Cards 4.  As always, the content of this class was awesome....so many ideas and techniques.  For a change, I have managed to do some homework and not just watch the videos which is what I usually end up doing.

Am afraid that I was not disciplined in my creations and ended up making ones from the latter part of the week rather than the first few days.  It seems that even with all of my craft items, I couldn't come up with what was used for the first part of the week or even find substitutions.  Maybe I will re-visit those videos and try again, now that I have established a little bit of momentum?  Some of the other class participants are very clever in this respect.

Jennifer Rzasa demonstrated a technique called Ink Patterns.  Since I love using Distress Inks, this was right up my alley.  Thus, I made two cards.   On the first one, I made a free hand shadow for the tree and am not sure if I like that element.  Jennifer's stamp set included a shadow.  For the second card I didn't include the shadow, but felt like the scene needed something else to complete it so I added the ribbon.

On Day 6, Julie Ebersole showed us how to make a tri-fold card.  I love this very simple, yet effective look and think it would be a great card for a guy!  

On Day 6 there was also a technique taught by Tasnim, which she called Masked Stripe.  This was another fun getting inky process.  For the main element of my card, I used a Penny Black die, which I also inked with Distress Inks.

So, I am very pleased with myself to do homework AND do a blog post!  Perhaps there is hope for me yet???  Now I just need to get the cards in the homework gallery.....

January Cards

Where does the time go these days?  It looks as though I just cannot get into posting my cards here, even though I really do have the best of intentions.  I think the last time I posted was before going out of town again (did a lot of traveling in 2014) and then it was Thanksgiving already.  The holidays have come and gone with all of the hustle and bustle of getting ready for them, and then getting over them.   During this time, I managed to make holiday cards, but the majority were made from a painting which I did in an art class. It did make for easier cards in that I just cropped, matted and stamped a greeting on the inside.

This month I have concentrated on making thank you cards and these were very simple designs.

The first ones were made with stamps from a company called Rubber Necker Stamps.  I fell in love with these stamps at the stamping convention back in October but didn't have time to play with them until recently.  I used Distress Inks and markers on the flat stamps and then spritzed with a mini mister before stamping on cardstock.  The outline stamp was inked with Versafine Black Onyx ink and then stamped over the colored image and it is not meant to be exactly lined up.

The next set of cards was made with Impression Obsession stamps (CL505 Botanical Collection 1) which I picked up at the annual sale at Impression Obsession in Williamsburg.  That was also held back in the fall, but I had not used the stamps until the last few weeks.  The technique I used was one which I saw somewhere online, but cannot remember now where I found it.  Again I used Distress Inks (is there a trend going on here???) and masked a rectangular area on white cardstock with post it notes.  I applied various colors of the Distress Ink with a blending tool.  Then I stamped the floral image with Black Onyx Versafine ink after removing the masks.  Adding the sentiment was the last step for this supper easy card.

I also needed a birthday card for a good friend and wanted something besides what I had on hand so used the Penny Black hydrangea from the Flower Festival clear set.

Hopefully, I will be more attentive to my much neglected blog in the coming year.
 

Online Copic Coloring Class

Guess my other preoccupations have kept me away from blogging for quite awhile again! Seems like that is the case each time I get around to trying to post?  The last few weeks I have been enjoying another Online Card Class, which was all about using Copic markers.  I have learned so much from the awesome instructors, including Jennifer McGuire, Kristina Werner and Sandy Allnock and their guest artists.  Even though I have used these markers for several years now, everyday was a new revelation of morsels which only enhanced what I have loved about using these markers.  And I am happy to have unlimited time to go back and review the videos in the future as there was so much information included that one could be overwhelmed with it all!

The card below is one featuring (and CASING very closely her card) a technique by Jennifer McGuire, which I fell in love with AND my order with the stamps from Ellen Hutson showed up just before class is to end.  

The white embossing creates such a clean, crisp look with the copic colored leaves!  And I can see this stamp set by Julie Ebersole being used much this fall.

The second card I am sharing is one of several sympathy cards which I have made recently.  I also employed some tips from class when I made this card especially when I did the fussy cutting of the hydrangea.

Hydrangeas are always a challenge to color for me, but I love the flower and attempt to color them often.  This image is a Hero Arts wood stamp and has been used a lot since I acquired it.  

Speaking of fall, we are supposed to have some cooler weather after some rain and storms come through tomorrow.  It is getting about that time of year to enjoy relief from heat and humidity.

Thanks for stopping by....

Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz

My preoccupations seem to take me away from blogging despite my good intentions.  Another week 's challenge has posted at The Outlawz, based on our new sketch which is:

 

 

 For the month of August the Design Team has been using wonderful images from our sponsor, Oak Pond Creations.  The image I used is called Georgia's Daisies and I wanted my card to be in colors for fall, rather than having a more summery feel. It was sort of fun to color the flowers with shades of reddish browns....something I don't usually do.  And for a change, I let the design paper come first, rather than coloring an image and then trying to find the perfect paper for it. This is what I came up with:

Hope you will come on over and check out what the rest of the DT members were inspired to do with this sketch.  Lots of beautiful inspiration!

On a different note, here are two cards which I have recently made using the Hero Arts Tall Flowers cling stamp.  The first was made for Lisa's Scramble earlier in the month and the challenge was to be use shades of teal plus one other accent color and to be a card of encouragement.  Seems like I need a lot of this type of card these days, so I ended up making a second card with this pretty HA stamp.  

 The cards were created very differently, just embossing on the first which made for a quick card.  The second one was a little more involved.....distress inked background on water color paper and the image then stamped and white embossed.  I then took a wet paint brush and "painted" the flowers and leaves with water.  While the sections were wet, I "lifted" or removed the color with a paper towel.  After the petals and leaves were light enough to show up, I splattered water drops on the panel as well as stamped random spots in the same colors of distress inks.

I am entering both cards in the August monthly challenge at a site which is new to me...a2z scrapbooking and the challenge is to create cards of encouragement.  

Hope everyone is enjoying the last bit of summer.  Where did the summer go?

Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz Challenges

After being on a leave of absence from The Outlawz for the last two months, I am excited to be back again.  We have a new sponsor for the month of May as well as a new sketch for the week:

Our sponsor this month is:

artbymiran  The prize will be 3 digis

My card features a Penny Black image from a set called Flower Festival which is colored with copic markers.  I made the background with Distress Inks applied to cardstock and then spritzed with water which had some Perfect Pearls added to it.  Not sure if you can tell that the shimmer is there?  In person, I love the affect this gives.

Hope that you will stop by The Outlawz and see the creations which my sister DT members have made and perhaps give this sketch a try yourself.

 

Deborah's Card Challenge

Last month I participated in Deborah Nolan's April Card Chain Challenge. Each month Deborah allows cardmakers to sign up to exchange cards and we can choose from the parameters given as to how to put the card together.  Participants are from all of the world.  How neat is that to send a card to a sister cardmaker and to receive one as well?  My card went to England and here is what I made for the lovely Jo in Birmingham:

And I was fortunate enough to receive a gorgeous card from my online friend, Lisa.  This surely makes one day to get a hand made card in the mail, especially when we are usually the ones who do the sending of our cards!

Watercoloring and Travel

My goodness, it has been such a long time since I have posted anything to my neglected blog!  Perhaps, blogging is just not my thing, but here I go again!  Trying once more to get into a routine of posting.  

I am excited to be enrolled in the new online class taught by Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner, which starts next week and is all about watercoloring.  To get ready for the class, we have already been given some "homework" and I have been working on that as I have time.  So, I have been dusting off the various water color products which I have accumulated over the years and playing with those a little.

This card is one I made before starting my practice pieces.  It was inspired by Jacqueline who makes the most beautiful grid cards which are posted on the Hero Arts blog.  I did mask off the areas with painter's tape to make my grid and then I went back and stamped each block.  It was a lot of fun to make, even though time consuming.

 

Most of the stamps which I used were by Hero Arts and were from various sets.

The next items are the charts which I made as instructed in the pre-class videos.   There are many products which I have accumulated over the years so I still have some more items which I have not brought out yet.  But after viewing the video which Kristina made, and I found the Koi set at AC Moore's, I just had to have it.  I must admit that the colors are much creamier to work with than the cheap sets which I have used.  Have not tried coloring an image yet, but the swatches seemed to make up with little effort.

Another assignment for class is to make up a background using watercolors.  Mine turned out pretty vibrant with the new set, but trying to find the right amount of water to mix with the creamier paint is going to take some practice.

 
Last, but not least, here are a couple of the photos from my trip to Southern France.  I have always wanted to take a river cruise after hearing from friends how amazing it is to travel in this fashion.  So March 29 of this year I realized this dream by going to France with several friends.  We were on a brand new ship, the Viking Hermod, and were pampered royally.

Here is a picture of our ship:

We flew into Marseilles, France, and then were bused to the ship in Avignon.  On Sunday afternoon, we could take a walking tour into town.  On our return to the ship we had a great view of The Pont d' Avignon.  This bridge was completed in 1185 but swept away by floods on the Rhone.  It was made famous by a French folk song, Sur le Pont d'Avignon (on the Bridge of Avignon which describes boys and girls dancing on the bridge, but it was more likely that they danced under the arches of the bridge).

Hoping to get into a groove of posting so the posts will not be so long to try to catch up on everything.