Pencil on Vellum

Hello All,

For today I am entering challenges from Fab Friday. Here is my card for today. Enjoy!

This card features lots of natural elements.

The vellum piece was stamped using this retired SU set. I stamped the image then flipped it over and colored it using Prismacolor pencils. Using the dark brown square under the image allows the image to really pop!

At first, I thought I cut the wood in the wrong direction but I took another look at it and loved the horizontal movement. It seems to match the movement of the stamped image.

Challenges Entered:

Fab Friday: FabFri185

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. I hope you all have a fantastic day and lots of good crafting vibes headed your way.

All the best,

Vases of Flowers

Hello All,

For today I will be playing along with CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge. Here is my card for today, enjoy!

This stamp was very popular for a while. I haven't seen this stamp in quite some time so I'd thought I would dust it off and use it for a challenge. 

Lots and lots of white space with patches of color.
To me, the colors and vases look retro-like.

I used these elements to accentuate the CAS(E) this Sketch sketch. Thought the colors and 3d elements suited the sketch perfectly.

Challenges Entered:

CAS(E) this Sketch: CTS #364- Retro

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. I hope you all have a fantastic day and lots of good crafting vibes headed your way.

All the best,

Big Bill's Lab

Hello All,

Today marks a special day. It is the first day of Spring and I have been asked to be the guest designer for The Male Room! I know during this time of overwhelming confusion, fear, and quarantine there is one thing that is true, family. More about that later. What a wonderful and fitting time for this challenge. Here is my card for today, enjoy!

I just love the Art Deco sentiment and its gold adornments. Lots of old relics on this card signifying all the things that were found in my grandfather's lab. I sponged the masked areas using DI: Gathered Twigs, Tumbled Glass, Scattered Straw, and Hickory Smoke.

The Male Room

Challenge #132

Above: All sorts of items from Big Bill's microscope to all his beakers. I left the colors monochromatic with a bit of turquoise. Big Bill's lab had painted teal floors throughout. Left/Below: I stamped a microscope and sponged the area using an old, but good, technique; masking using Post-It Notes. Right/Bottom: He also had this old-style typewriter and of course a ton of beakers. Again using the Post-It masking technique. I mixed the ink color for the images from black to brown.

 

When I was a child I lived in a duplex. A duplex is one house that has two living units. I lived downstairs with my dad and upstairs lived Mickey Nana and Big Bill, or Grandma and Grandpa. I had the unique opportunity of living downstairs from my grandparents for many years. Getting between the units proved to be a bit unconventional; you had to pass through the garage, the lab, and down the staircase. 

Yes, the lab! Big Bill was a chemist during his working years and brought a lot of his equipment with him during retirement. He had a motley of trinkets, things, and objects in his lab. Including a drawing table and chair (I would give my eye teeth to have nowadays), chemicals in glass containers, beakers, tubes, hand and machine tools of all sorts, books, and books on science, engineering, nature, you name it he had it. That is why I designed this card to be a ton of things all together on one-panel, just like his lab. 

When he died we donated most of his chemistry equipment to my high school and the rest we auctioned off. I dream about the lab every now and then and upon waking up I always find myself smiling that I had the privilege to live with such a remarkable person, my Grandfather, Big Bill.

Well, that is all for me!! I want to thank The Male Room again for this amazing opportunity to be their guest designer this fortnight. I also want to thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to join me at TheGrandStampede. If you are new to my blog, please consider following me to get all my postings. If you are so inclined to leave a comment and let me know how I am doing, that would be great too.

I hope you all have a fantastic day and lots of good crafting vibes headed your way. Stay safe and healthy!!

All the best,

Skyline

Hello All,

For today I am entering challenges from CASology. The technique I used for my card is called the faux bleaching technique or lifting technique. Here is my card for today. Enjoy!

This card took me about fifteen minutes to create. It looks so pretty and was very unexpectedly surprised with its turnout. I think it will take me longer to explain it then it was to create it.  The faux bleaching technique. I'll explain...

I used heavyweight watercolor paper to stamp and white heat emboss the skyline. I then sponged in a horizontal direction an ombre pattern with Faded Jeans Distress Ink all over the paper. I then took my paintbrush and colored the city with water. I let it sit for a few seconds, placed a dry cloth over the water to soak it up and along with it came some of the DI. The pale pink color is the residue color from the Faded Jeans ink.

I thought I would end up with a white-ish blue leftover but ended up with pale pink. I thought it looked gorgeous. Very simple technique and the results were fabulous. Maybe I should add one more adjective. Lovely!

Challenges Entered:
CASology: Week 363- Skyline

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. I hope you all have a fantastic day and lots of good crafting vibes headed your way.

All the best,

Ink Lift with Embossing

Hello All,

For today I am playing along with The Paper Players. Their challenge this week seemed a bit ambiguous. It is a challenge that is wide open to almost any possibility. For me, I thought about how I could use heat embossing as a centerpiece of the project. Well, how about alcohol lifting using an embossed image. So here is my card for today, enjoy!

I just have to say this was SO fun! I seem to be becoming a Jennifer McGuire junkie. So I watched this video which showed this technique. Click here for the episode. I thought this challenge would be the perfect time to try it out.

I started with Yupo paper and added alcohol ink to create a base. Dried it and added a TON of antistatic bag to the base. Stamped my image on the base and heat embossed clear. I used old die cutting plates, placed the base on the plates and sprayed 91% alcohol on it. Lastly, I added a piece of 110lb. CS on top and ran it through. The CS soaked up the spray and ink leaving behind the color that is trapped under the embossing. 

The 'cherish' sentiment was diecut in the same brown as the border. I then added three coats of clear embossing powder to build up the word.

 Challenges Entered:
The Paper Players: Theme Challenge (heat embossing)- PP480
 

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. I hope you all have a fantastic day and lots of good crafting vibes headed your way.

All the best,

Masquerade

Hello All,

For today I am playing along with Sunday Stamps. I love the inspiration! Seriously, I have always wanted to go to Mardi Gras and maybe sometimes I will but I saw this challenge and thought, 'perfect!' I can live vicariously through this challenge. Mardi Gras, here I come!!! Here is my card for today, enjoy!!

The masked image is a digi stamp from Pattie's Creations. I have had my crafty little eye on this digi for quite some time. I had to breakdown and get it when I saw the Sunday Stamps Challenge. The actual mask was printed out four times and then laid on each other for depth. You will see in better detail as you scroll down to the bottom of the pictures.

A lot of texture, elements, and layers went into making this card. You can see the golden feathers adorned with pearls. The mask, however, takes the show! It was colored using alcohol markers then a coat of Wink of Stella for some sparkle. On the corner of the eyes, I add some purple dots with metallic paint pens. Under the eyes, I applied the gold accent 'eyeliner'. 

The feathers were traced with a gold and silver paint marker. If you have never tried paint markers then do! You will find the paint is lush and bright. The gold and silver also go well with the pearls. Like I said before this is one of those cards you need to see in person. So much sparkle, luster, and life!

You can see the depth that was added by adding four layers of CS on top of each other. Also, you can also see some glimmer of eyes behind the mask. Just a hint that someone is there, watching. The glitter above the eyes was applied using glue on top of colored alcohol marker CS in the same color.

Challenges Entered:

Sunday Stamps: SSC225 Bright and Bold

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. I hope you all have a fantastic day and lots of good crafting vibes headed your way.

All the best,

Stand Out

Hello All,

For today I will be playing along with CAS(E) this Sketch, Sweet Stampin', and INKspirational Challenges. Here is my card for today, enjoy!

Our leaping frog shouldn't be 'moving' at all. This little green guy actually comes from a yoga stamp set from Stampendous (see below). It shows the frog stretching to one side. To me, it looked like it was leaping through the air.

Even though there are a lot of elements it seems a bit CAS for me. All that white space the frog leaping into is just divine.

I do enjoy this sentiment for a couple of reasons. One, I like the swampy 'stand out' sentiment. It looks wet and not perfect. Secondly, the saying is just perfect for the leaping amphibian. The scene above reminds me of a swampy area where frogs live.

 Challenges Entered:

Sweet Stampin' Challenge: Take a Leap

INKspirational: Challenge 208- Leap

CAS(E) this Sketch: CTS#361 

  

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to spend time with me. I hope you all have a fantastic day and lots of good crafting vibes headed your way.

All the best,