America The Beautiful

The Created By Hand challenge http://quietfire.ning.com/group/createdbyhandchallenge/forum/topics/fireworksmetallics-1 this week is fireworks/metallics which gave me the perfect excuse to pull out my alcohol inks which I haven't used in a while.  I also used some glossy paper which I haven't used in a very long time.  Glossy paper, alcohol inks, and metallic inks is an excellent combination for a shimmery background.  I didn't have any fireworks stamps or pictures so I used some of my Tim Holtz idea-ology Salvage Stickers - Seasonal collection.  I first used pool colored alcohol ink with Silver metallic ink (Ranger Inks) with my applicator and dabbed it all over my glossy paper.  I then added my stickers.  I first went over with Barn Door red and used perfect pearls blue sapphire.  I then painted liquid white pearls over the entire image.  I finished it off with True Blue Stickles and Icicle Stickles (Ranger Ink).

Created By Hand Challenge -- Buttons/Orange

I decided to do something different for this challenge by Created By Hands Challenge http://quietfire.ning.com/group/createdbyhandchallenge.  Instead of a card, I decided to make a decoration for my new craft room.  At the moment, it looks more like a storage room for crafts than a craft room.  Hm, maybe next month when the children go to school, I can finish organizing and decorating. 

I started this project with stamping in Distressed Ink Rusty Hinge the verse God is my Salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.  The Lord is my Shepherd and my song.  He has become my salvation.  Isaiah 12:2 (from Our Daily Bread Designs).  This was stamped onto Elegant Designs Oval Spellbinders/Nestabilities from Our Daily Bread Designs Exclusive Dies Collection.  I used Tea Dye Distressed Ink and sponged the color. I  went over the border in Tea Dye Distressed Stickles.  I also stamped the butterfly image with Distressed Ink Rusty Hinge and cut the butterfly out and stained in Spiced Marmalade and then brushed with Perfect Pearls - Copper. 

The out card was stained with Antique Mahogany and Walnut Stain.  I stamped the flower and stems image in Rusty Hinge and the stained in Tea Dye.  I took a white ribbon and dyed it in Sunset Orange alcohol ink.  I added a button and then decided it needed a little pop of color so I punched out the bird and stem and stained in Blue Jeans and the branch in Crushed Olive.  I brushed over the bird with Perfect Pearls Blue.

Thank you for looking.

3 Dimensional Flowers

Did you ever start a project with one thing in mind but by the time you finished it, it was something completely different? Well, this was my flower project. I was planning on making this into a card. I was wondering how exactly it could be mailed with the flowers being 3 dimensional, but figured I would think of it as I progressed. I started out with the flower on the top. I used some colors that I haven't used until recently, Spiced Marmalade and Wild Honey and also another color that I don't use very often, Fired Brick. I then used one of my Mini Misters that I have been using here and there the past month. I then painted the tip of the top flower with Spiced Marmalade Cracked Paint.

Then I went through a pink phase (I have been having a lot of pink days lately) and painted a flower with another Cracked paint -- Tattered Rose. I colored another flower with a new Distressed Ink - Victorian Velvet and probably another favorite as I've been using it a lot lately. I also colored another flower with another new Distressed Ink color - Spun Sugar. I then painted the outside of the flowers with Pearl Dabber and Tattered Rose Re-inker and finally once again sprayed the flower with Berry Twist, Tattered Rose Re-inker drops and water combination in Mini Mister.

With the 3rd 3-dimensional flower, I tried Shabby Shutters, Broken China and Tumbled Glass. I covered the Shabby Shutters flower with matching Distressed Stickles. I painted these three flowers with Pearl Dabber paint and Broken China Re-inker drop mix. I also sprayed with Green Patina Perfect Pearls, Broken China re-inker and water combination in the Mini Misters.

I wanted to try out the Vintage Photo Embossing Powder so today I played with that too. I first inked up a larger open rose with Spiced Marmalade and covered the paper with the embossing powder, tapped off excess and dried with heating tool. I then used a smaller rose stamp in Distressed Embossing Ink and once again put the Vintage Photo Embossing Powder on the paper and repeated process.

Now, as I said, I can't use this as a card b/c the flowers will be crushed so I think I'll be off to find an appropriate frame for my Masterpiece (LOL).

New Colors

I would really like to give away the products that are shown at the top of this page. However, I cannot seem to get a hold of Jane. Jane, please email me at Lindascozycraftcorner@yahoo.com so I can arrange to ship these goodies out to you. Because I would like to share these items with those of you that were kind enough to visit, I am going to do another drawing on June 1 if I do not here from Jane by then.

The card at the top has a Spiced Marmalade background. I stamped the bird and the black speckles in black soot. I also colored some paper in Black Soot and then used a corner puncher to get the corner accents. The outer part of the card was distressed with Spiced Marmalade, Brick Red, and Vintage Photo. I then used Antiqued Bronze Distressed Stickles to go over the outside of the card.

This has been such a great week. Sunday, it was my birthday and once again I would like to thank those of you that stopped by. I have been itching to make more cards but there was some other things that I needed to do. And, yesterday, my husband and I celebrated our 14th Wedding Anniversary. He took the day off and we saw Date Night which was a funny and overall terrific movie. So today when I was trying to decide what to do, I decided to work with colors that I do not use very often but like. I used a variety of colors for this card. First I used some Spiced Marmalade and then spritzed with the Mini Mister. I had a concoction of Berry Twist Perfect Pearls, a drop of Antique Linen Re-inker and water. I then stamped a floral stamp with Worn Lipstick all over the card. I then spritzed once again with the Mini Mister. Then I used Black Soot (my first time I've used this color), I brushed on Blue Patina with the smaller brush and then used the larger to brush off the excess and once again used my Mini Mister. I decided to add a small "Get Well" tag that was colored using Mustard Seed and a spritz with the Mini Mister.

Happy Birthday

Perhaps when you were a child your mom or dad brought cupcakes to your classroom to celebrate your birthday. That tradition lives on in my children's school. That is what inspired me this year to do two give aways to celebrate my birthday.

The one give away is for crafting products. A picture of the products I am giving away is above. To the left is a picture of cards that I am giving away for those that may not like to craft but appreciate the beauty of hand made cards. All you need to do is indicate which give away you are interested. Also, if you let someone know and they visit my blog and they tell me who referred them, your name will be once again placed in my jar and your friend's name will be added to the jar too.

For those that may not be computer savvy but are interested in the cards, please feel free to email me Lindascozycraftcorner@yahoo.com and I will be happy to add your name to the jar too.

Thank you for playing and sharing my birthday with me!!!

We will be drawing names at 9:00 PM PST.

Linda

Faux Foil

On Saturday, I was playing around with some of my Ancient Gold Embossing Powders. I was really enjoying seeing the different effects the different embossing powders had on the paper. At some point I wanted to try Perfect Pearls in addition to the embossing powder. Above is Ancient Gold Antique Embossing Powder. I put water, a few drops of Old Paper Reinker and Gold Heirloom Perfect Pearls in a Mini Mister and shook the mister so everything would mix together. I then spritzed the paper with the Mini Mister mixture. The result was a foiled looking front.

Today I tried it again using different colors. I used Ancient - Roman Gold Embossing Powder. First I used an anti-static embossing cloth and then I stamped the image with Perfect Medium ink and tapped the embossing powder on top. Then I used a heating tool to melt the gold powder.

I decided to try making a foil looking card again. However, this time I wanted to try a different color so I mixed together water, Tatter Rose Reinker, and Inference Red Perfect Pearls in a Mini Misters. I then spritzed the paper with the mixture and the finished look is pink foil.

Here is the finished look. The tag "Best Wishes" was embossed with Ancient - Princess Gold Embossing Powder. I also stained it using Crushed Olive. I hope you check back again as more ideas are coming this way this week.

New Fun

It has been a great couple of weeks for my family and my little on-line shop (www.lindascozycraftcorne.etsy.com). I had a sale on my Distressed Inks last week. That was a lot of fun as I got to "meet" new people through email and through Etsy. I got my first international business which was very exciting for me. My son got a basket in his basketball game. We celebrated my husband's birthday. I'll have to show you next time the football tickets I made up for him with the intent that he will go to a Dallas game this fall.

I received a request for the new 12 Ranger Ink Distressed inks a few weeks back so I gladly ordered those and since I need to order in bulk I opened some of the colors. One of the colors is Pumice Stone which I used on the center piece of the card. I then stamped a flower in black ink and filled in with Perfect Pearls Berry Twist. I used the Swiss Dots folder and Cuddlebug. I then stained the paper with Shabby Shutters Distressed Ink and stained over with Shabby Shutters Distressed Stickles. I have been using the Distressed Stickles a lot lately and first they slightly change the stain color and mellow them down which I love and on top give a beautiful matted finish to the cards.

I also used the Shabby Shutters Distressed Stickles on the Thank You part of the card. Thank you for my friend Patti who loaned to me forever ago a beautiful greetings stamp set and I really need to get creating so I can give them back to her. I love the lettering of this particular stamp set and haven't seen anything equivalent to it. I finished off my card using one of Mini Misters. I put a small amount of Perfect Pearls in the tube, added water, shook the Mini Mister bottle and then sprayed the card. It gives a dazzling shimmer to cards.

Playtime With Perfect Pearls

Today I had a lot of fun. Well, if you can count a trip to the dentist fun than it was just a jolly great day. I came home and looked at a few things on the Ranger Ink site http://www.rangerink.com/. And then after many many months of hiding the Perfect Pearls away with the intent on selling them, I decided to pull my Perfect Pearls out and give them another whirl. OH, OH, OH are they pretty and so much fun. I took some of the Perfect Pearls and put them in an empty egg container. I then spritzed the pearl powder with water. I then took a brush and went over a rose that I stamped with the Perfect Pearls. I also took some Turquoise Perfect Pearls and mixed it with water. and then sprayed the papers with the mixture. Oh my gosh, it gave such a beautiful shimmer over the papers. Below is another one that I did using Sunset Sparkle on the rose.