Happy Halloween Using Tim Holtz Patterned Paper

Hi, guys!  I am sure many of you know my love of Tim Holtz's products and inks.  I can't seem to put down the distress inks sometimes.  For today, I thought I would share 3 Halloween cards I made.  Paper is one of my favorite things.  I have been "collecting" various patterned papers by Tim Holtz.  For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to actually use it.  Crazy, I know.  So, for these cards, I used some of his wonderful vintage papers.  You will also notice that two of them have decorated bottle caps on them.  I was a fan of them years back and haven't seen them in awhile.  I saw a few of them in a shop on vacation and knew I had to incorporate them in my Halloween creations.

I used Black Soot distress ink on all the edges of each of these cards.  For the third card, I used glow-in-the-dark glitter in the BOO sentiment.  It looks cool when it is in the dark.  The googlie eyes just make me smile, so I love adding them!  The twill ribbon on two of the cards was repurposed.  I received a gift of dishtowels that were held together with white twill.  I saved it as it was so nice and soft and wide.  I used Dylusions Sprays to color it black with hints of orange.

Hope you enjoyed these cards, and hope they inspire you to shop in your stash.

Have a great day!

Sending Love Your Way

Hi, guys! Hope your day is going well.  Today I am sharing a card I made for a friend.  Her dad passed away.  When I started making this card, I did so with a happy heart. I wasn't working on a sympathy card when I first started it.  I was taking Jennifer McGuire's Kick Start online class, and that day they were focusing on play time, and just allowing yourself time to work with different inks and mediums or embellishments, etc.  I took out all my spray inks and was spraying and using water to make a fun background on a sheet of watercolor paper.  When I got to making the card, I saw a sky of blue and let it inspire me to make this card.  I thought the sentiment of "Sending Love Your Way" would be a lovely way to show my friend how much we love and care about her.

Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts
Paper: Gina K Designs, Watercolor Paper
Inks: Distress Inks, Distress Stains, Dylusion Spray, Perfect Pearl Mist
Misc.: Memory Box Butterfly Die, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Gems, Thin white ribbon, Organdy White Ribbon, White Embossing Powder

I wish you a great day ahead and hope you take a moment to enjoy those special in your life.

July Design Team Submissions III- The Finale

Hi, guys!  Hope all is well.  Today I will be sharing the final cards for the July Design Team Submissions of The Ink Pad NYC.

The first card I am going to share with you today incorporates both stamping and using dies for the butterflies.  I used images from Stampers Anonymous from the Nature's Discovery Set.  I also sprayed Dylusions spray inks on paper and cut out tiny butterflies using The Memory Box Die Butterfly Delights. They are so adorable!  Using the spray this way made them all different.   The background was embossed using the Tim Holtz embossing folder Honeycomb.

For the last card, I decided to use black glossy cardstock for the base.  I used Maya Road Stamps for the butterflies.  I am really enjoying the new Summer Distress Ink colors, so I used them for the images.  I used twine for the butterfly trails.  To make them stiff, I used Claudine Hellmuth Matte Medium.

My four-month term on the design team is ending this month.  I want to thank The Ink Pad NYC for allowing me to be on their first design team.  It meant a lot to me and I hope you enjoyed my creations. It sure was a lot of fun for me.

Hope you find a few moments in your day to do something you love!

July Design Team Submissions II - Fluttering By

Hi, guys! Hope you are all doing well today.  I am sitting here in front of my air conditioner (literally!) as I write this post.  I am sure hoping this heat breaks before it breaks me!

I thought I would share the next two cards I made for the July Design Team of The Ink Pad NYC.  The theme this month was butterflies.  I also had to incorporate the Ranger Dylusion sprays, and wooden buttons.

I decided to use dies instead of stamps for the butterflies this time.  I used the Memory Box (Moonlight Butterfly) die to cut out some butterflies after I sprayed the papers with  Dylusions sprays.  It was a fun way to add color to them.  The background is embossed with a Tim Holtz Embossing folder. I also decided to spray the wood button and it worked great. The sentiment I stamped on the butterfly is from Maya Road.

For this next card, I decided to use one large butterfly from Hero Arts/Basic Grey from the Butterflies Print set.  I thought it would be fun for this one to keep it one solid color to show the print on it.  I scored the card along the bottom and inserted the sentiment there.  I thought this green and brown wooden button would go nice with it.

Hope you like these cards.  It is a lot of fun sharing them with you.  I hope you find a few moments in your day to do something you love!   Until next time!

July Design Team Submissions - Inky Butterflies

Hi, guys!  Hope all is well.  I finally found some time to get INKY today and thought I would share the two cards I made with you.   These are the first two of my July Design Team submissions for The Ink Pad NYC. This month I was given Maya Road butterflies, and Dylusions spray ink to work with.

I was given Ranger's Cut Grass Dylusions spray.  I really love this stuff.  I have it in a few other colors, so I included Crushed Grape Dylusions spray also.   I love the vibrant colors.  For this card I just misted it on dry card stock.

For the next card, I used the Dylusions spray on glossy card stock with water to obtain a watercolor look. The colors of the sprays I used on this one are Pure Sunshine and London Blue.  The butterfly on this card is by Stampers Anonymous and the background is by Hero Arts. The hardware is by Tim Holtz.

I had fun making these cards.  Have a cardboard box handy when you are using spray inks.  It really does keep your work surface clean as well as containing the ink from going airborne (take it from one who knows firsthand!)  I know there are little boxes made for use with spray inks, but really any old box will do (and it will save a tree to recycle one you already have!).

I look forward to sharing the next few cards in the upcoming days.  Stay cool, my friends!

Happy Anniversary Card - Nature Inspired

Hi, guys!  I thought I would share a card I made for a friend's husband to celebrate their second wedding anniversary.

Supplies:
Stamps: Stampers Anonymous
Ink: Archival Black,  Distress Ink, Dylusions Spray Inks
Paper: Watercolor Paper, Gina K Designs 
Misc.: Ribbon, Gems, Oval Punch, Computer Generated Name, Distress Tool, Heart Button

I wanted to make this different than I normally do for anniversaries.  I normally would use red, white, pink or something like that for anniversaries.  I wanted to make this look natural in feel and use a different color palette.  I thought the use of the spray inks would be fun.  I love their vibrant colors and how easy they are to use. My fingers got incredibly inky when I made this card!   I can't believe it has been two years already since my friend married Seth.  I am so happy that they found each other.

Have a great day!  I hope you find some time in your day to do something you love!