I found a cute stamp set and matching die set on the Picket Fence Studio website. It stumped me when at first. I did not know how to incorporate the die and sentiment because they are both large and do not fit on a standard card front. So, I created this:
I created an ombre effect in green using Distress Oxide ink and a little mist of water. The image on the die cut was stamped in Candy Apple red Distress Oxide ink. I embossed with clear embossing powder. Pop dots were used to adhere to the card front. I heat embossed the sentiment in gold. To make sure the gold only embossed on the sentiment I ran some cornstarch over the sentiment spot before I embossed it. It was still looking a little on the boring side. I finished it off with a few Nuvo drops in gold.
Valentine’s Day is my least favorite holiday. Every year when it rolls around I groan a little. I don’t have any particular reason on why I do not like it. It does bring a smirk on my face when I can create sarcastic cards for it though. Joy Clair has a new stamp set that is perfect for all the folks out there who don’t like cupid and his holiday. It is perfectly title “#Single”. I created this card using the new stamp set:
How to Create “Happy Singles Awareness Day!” Card
Tim Holtz Distress Oxide is how I created the background. When working with water based pigments it is important to keep the color theory in mind. Basically you want to keep all your red undertone colors(warms) together and blue undertone colors (cools) together. If you mix them you will get mud. That is okay if it is the look you are going for, but if not don’t mix things like green and red. The color that is the exception to this rule is purple. The only colors you can mix purple with are red OR blue. If you mix it with any other color you will get mud for this card I stuck with pink, red and purple (on the bottom).
This card has a square cut out that was created to use as a shaker. It also looks cute with an image in the box. I stamped the hearts and colored them in. I finished them off with a little clear glaze by Nuvo and Dew Drops.
After the sentiment had been stamped on the bottom, three coordinating ones were stamped along the bottom and finished off with the Nuvo Clear Glaze.
If the card front was not enough to make the recipient giggle the inside is sure to do so.
Do you like Valentine’s Day? Let me know in the comments!
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The last ten years I have been sick. I did not even know that I was sick because I was so used to not feeling good that I thought it was normal. In the summer of 2016 my general practitioner finally convinced me it was time to see a Hematologist. My blood work had come back for years with a high white blood cell count, but this time it had to be dealt with because it was far to high. It took about a year of medical testings and procedures to get answers and we still are not to the bottom of it. In that year I became hopeless and sad. I had to close down my kennel in which I bred Golden Retrievers and was unable to serve. I was doing everything to hold myself together and get better — after all I am a mom to three kids. While going for treatments and testings I met a lot of really sick people and it was through this experience and journey that I decided to donate my hair — the one physical feature that I treasured most.
It has taken me three months to document this journey, but it is a journey that is important to me. I want to share my layout with you and that journey to bring awareness to the organization I donated through that provide children with hair loss at no charge to their families. In fact the name of it is “Children With Hair Loss”.
Now, before I share with you my journey I have to tell you that there are tears involved. I did cry as I walked through putting the layout together. I almost did not share it because I felt so silly crying over hair, but I know it is more than just my hair I am crying over. Please check out the day that I donated here: Children With Hair Loss and the aftermath as I put the video together here:When You Have Nothing Left….Give
Can you determine which is dark and which is light paper?
I must confess, I was having a hard time getting into this new ink — Distress Oxide. That is, until I tried it in my journals! Now I am hooked on it! I had done a page in my black journal and though I liked it just fine, I had wished it was brighter. I mentioned that to my friend, Linda Israel (she is a designer and does amazing art! Look her up on YouTube!), and she said to try Distress Oxide. So I did! Check out the video and see which is which as well as a few new techniques on how to use it 🙂
I could not wait to get my hands on the new Distress Oxide ink by Tim Holtz. I saw him demo these at CHA and knew I had to have them as well as the Hipster Stamp set. After stalking all of my favorite stores they finally were made available to purchase. Normally I would wait until they come out in the 1 inch blocks, but given the unique ink mixture they will only be available in the larger form. I decided on 8 of the 12 colors because I knew I would get a lot of use out of them. Once they finally were delivered I started playing with them.
I had a hard time with them at first. I found them to be messy, time consuming, and not easy to cover the corners of my project. They also were very dying for my fingers. Though I did love the results once I finally got lotion on my hands and the corners covered, I knew there had to be a better way for me to use them. I created this card with my technique:
These are the first five tags I made with the oxide ink using it the way Tim demonstrated at CHA.
Granted, I like a more vibrant colorful outcome than most I was still pleased with them. To learn my technique please visit my Tutorial .
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