Cute and Quick Watercolor Card

Hi everyone!

This card was inspired by "duck" tape  (you can see a piece of the tape at the top of my craft mat).  It had such cute and simple elephant designs, I decided to use that as a model to carve my own stamp.  Because the stamp is a solid image, it works really well with the stain-to-stamp method of creating a watercolor look.  ANY solid image stamp will work well for this technique.

First, I liberally applied Ranger's Distress Stain to my stamp. The colors I used were Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, and Broken China. It's best if the colors overlap a little.

 Then I spritzed it with water and stamped it on Stampin' Up's Natural White Card stock.  Choose an absorbent surface texture, you definitely want to use a watercolor paper or a card stock that will wick up the moisture.

Since I'm kind of limited on my palette of stain colors, my balloon stamp I inked all over with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink, and tapped a little Aged Mahogany stain on one side.  Then I spritzed the inked stamp with water, and stamped it on my card stock.  The balloon stamp is from Stampin' Up's Big Bold Birthday set (retired). 

Any part of the image that does not stamp just right can be smoothed out with a water brush.  Using a heat tool to dry the image, you can blow the colors around to give it a mottled effect.

For the string, I used a Copic Multiliner 0.3 felt tip pen and free-handed a little line between the balloon and the elephant's trunk.  

An easy border idea is to draw a border 1/8 of an inch in using a graph ruler.  

This was super easy to do, very quick, and lots of fun. 

Enjoy!

Copycat Tag of Tim's January 2015 creation

Hello friends!

Tim Holtz has begun another year of tags, and January's had some fun techniques that I wanted to try and share with you.  The link to Tim's tag is http://timholtz.com/12-tags-of-2015-january . I love Tim's work, but unless you're independently wealthy, hopelessly obsessed, or work for Ranger Industries, you probably don't have everything that Tim uses on hand.  Sometimes we have to go for the next best thing.

Tim's first step is to cover a #8 manila tag with Idea-ology Tissue Wrap - which is gorgeous but not on my shelf.  My solution was to take a sheet of tracing paper and stamp some background using Staz-on ink.  Staz-on works the best, archival ink works in a pinch but it will smear a little bit.  These stamps are from Stamper's Anonymous: "Artful Artifacts" CMS 080 and "Life Adventure" CMS 077.

To adhere the backround, smear Liquitex Acrylic Matte Medium over the #8 tag, here cut from Stampin' Up "Very Vanilla" card stock using the Sizzix Alterations Bigz Die "Tag and Bookplates." Lay the tracing paper background on top of the wet medium and trim aound the edges.  That's the medium there, I didn't blow my nose on the tag.

Like Tim, give it a bit of sanding - gently - around the edges and finger-paint another layer of matte medium over the top.  Make sure to put some paper between your sanding block and your craft mat - a scuffed craft mat does not work well.

After the matte medium dries, finger-paint with some Distress Paint for color and spritz it with water.  The colors here are Peacock Feathers, Weathered Wood, and Antique Bronze.

After the paint dries, spritz with Distress Spray Stain.  Here, I used the classic recipe of "1 dropper of Distress Re-inker and fill the rest of a mini-mister with water" to make my own "Walnut Stain" Distress Spray Stain.  The whole tag got a generous spritz.

Because I didn't have the cool plastic words and numbers Tim used in his blog, it was time to "fake it" again.  I cut a "15" from black card stock using Sizzix Bigz die set "Serif Essentials,"  covered them with Glossy Accents and poured Martha Stewart's "Citrine" glitter  over the top and set it aside.  Don't deny that those sparkle-y little vials at the craft store haven't found their way into your basket before.  Martha knows marketing.

For the "twenty" I cut black card stock using Sizzix Alterations "Carnivale" decorative strip die, covered it with "Antique Linen" Distress Paint, and followed up with a coat of "Squeezed Lemonade" for a little extra brightness.  Hey, I could have made myself an "age" tag and said "Twenty x2" instead of "Twenty 15"... that'd be a great birthday card, I think I will do that.

Again, making do with what's on hand, I printed my own words out on the computer using "Bookman Old Style" font, 12 pitch.  After sticking them in place with some tape runner, I covered the tag with matte medium again and let it dry.  There was a futile attempt at splattering some "Picket Fence" Distress paint, which got everywhere but the tag.  Following that debacle, I went around each word with a Stampin' Write marker in Basic Black, smudging off as I went.  

To dye the ribbon, take Idea-ology Crinkle Ribbon and smudge "Vintage Photo" Distress Stain all over and spritz it with water.  Crumple and dry with a heat tool. The Crinkle Ribbon is beautiful in person, it has a lovely sheen when it's been 'stained'. 

The Spritzer tool is fun, that's the truth.  My gold pen of choice is a Zig Painty that's been rocking for years.  Finish the tag by gluing the card stock letters and going around them with a black marker to add some depth.  The embellishment in the bottom corner is an Idea-ology Philosophy Tag that says "Simplify."  That seemed like a good resolution for the new year.

Here are the finished tags.  The second one is my "age" tag.  There are a few differences, first is that the "age" tag is sealed with  "Rock Candy" Distress Crackle Paint to cover the tag before adhering the letters and numbers. Also, the "twenty" was cut from black card stock using the Sizzix "Go Go Boots" alphabet.  Each letter was covered with Glossy Accents, for an epoxy look.  The number 2 was traced onto black card stock from the old Idea-ology Grungeboard Numerals, which I saved to use as stencils. The Crinkle Ribbon is dyed with "Broken China" Distress Stain, and the Philosophy Tag is backed with an Idea-ology Vial Label to help it stand out.  

Enjoy, and thanks, Tim!

A little therapeutic "Tim Time"

If you're not familiar with Tim Holtz, as a blog-surfing crafter you should be.  Tim is the Creative Director for Ranger Industries, and the mastermind behind Ranger's Distress product line, Idea-ology line of embellishments, and Sizzix's "Alterations" line of dies and embossing folders, as well as a designer of hundreds of stamp sets vulcanized by Stampers Anonymous. Step back, Martha Stewart, Tim and his team make magic.

One of Tim's regular blog posts is his "12 Tags" series.  Originally begun as the "12 Tags of Christmas" some years back, Tim would create a new, Christmas-themed tag each day from December 1-12, post them, and have a feedback-competition where those who duplicated or adapted the tag could enter to win some embellishments, products, etc.  Now Tim blogs a new tag each month, and goes with a new theme each time, so his "12 Tags" series embraces the whole year.  You can find them at www.timholtz.com.  What's super cool about the blog is he's got a plethora of ideas - techniques, how-to's, new products, videos -  all presented on these basic manila tags.  It's very easy to incorporate these ideas into scrapbook pages, cards, decor... it's all there.  Check it out.

This month he did a tag that really resounded with me.  He suggested using all those "special" things we save for a "special" project and use those on this tag.  We all have that stuff we save for what's "special," but isn't everything we make special in some way?  So I made a submission for Tim's "12 Tags of 2014", May edition.

I made a basic manila tag using the Sizzix Alterations Tag & Bookplates Bigz die and some Stampin' Up Very Vanilla card stock, stamped it with one of the stamps from Tim's "Fabulous Flourishes" stamp set in clear embossing ink, dusted it with clear embossing powder and heat set it.  Once it cooled, I patted my craft mat with Crushed Olive, Broken China, and Tumbled Glass Distress ink, spritzed it with a little water and dipped the front of my tag in the puddles a couple of times to get good coverage all over.  Be sure to spritz the back of your tag with a little water to keep it from curling up too much as it dries.  I dried it briefly with a heat tool, stamped it with "Spills &Splatters" in Dusty Concord, and voila!  Classic emboss resist background.  

The theme was to create a "tiled" background to showcase all the special embellishments.  My inspiration piece was my rivet in the lower left hand corner which says "fabulous" on it, something I acquired from Stampin' Up years ago.  I've been saving that thing for years and just needed the right project for it.  What is fabulous?  Life is fabulous, so my focal point is the word "Life" stamped from the "Mini Cirque Alpha" set, also by Tim, onto paper from the "Lost and Found" paper stash (all the paper on the chipboard "tiles" is from "Lost and Found," also from Tim's product line.)  My top embellishment is one of the bookplates from the "Tags and Bookplates" die, in DCWV's metallic stack silver card stock, the flowers were punched from "Lost and Found" paper using Stampin' Up punches.  My little glitter mosaic piece was punched out of glitter card stock, and coated with Glossy Accents to keep the glitter in and make the embellishment look like an epoxy charm. Easy to do and totally worth the hour or so drying time.

Thanks to Tim Holtz for this months therapy!  Clear the worktable and have your own crafting therapy.  It just feels good to make stuff- sometimes you need that.  Go play!

Have a blast!

Kristine

Supply List:

Tim's stuff:

Mini Cirque Alpha, Fabulous Flourishes, and Spills &Splatters stamp sets by Stampers Anonymous

Tags & Bookplates Sizzix Alterations Bigz die

"Lost and Found" paper stash by Idea-ology

Distress Ink by Ranger - Crushed Olive, Broken China, Tumbled Glass, Dusty Concord, Pumice Stone (LIFE stamp) with Walnut Stain and Tea Dye for shading.

Glossy Accents and Ink Blending Tool by Inksentials 

Stampin' Up stuff:

Very Vanilla card stock

Punches:  Pansy, Petite Petals, Mosaic, Little Labels Punch Pack

"Fabulous" rivet, discontinued

Other: glitter card stock, brads, and DCWV metallic card stock.

everything's new but the stamp set...

Here's another retired stamp set that's on the block at Ebay this week.  Everything in the card is new, but the stamp set.

Stamp set:  Tags so Much (retired)
Card Stock:  Bermuda Bay, Old Olive, Smoky Slate, Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry, and Whisper White.
Ink:  Smoky Slate Classic ink pad; Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, and Old Olive Stampin' Write Markers
Tools:  Deco Labels Framelets, Big Shot, Baroque embossing folder, Large tag punch (retired), Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, Petite Petals Punch (new!)

Life is a funny thing.  After starting graduate school late fall of 2013, I have really backed off from stamping, so much so that I'm putting many of my retired stamp sets that I no longer use on ebay.  I figured in order to make them more appealing, I would make a card with each stamp set and add that photo to the sale profile. What is funny is that I'm hoping this old hostess set from 2008, which I used probably only once, doesn't sell because the card I CASE'd from the Stampin' Up catalog turned out so cute.

Stamp set:  In the Spotlight (hostess level 2 from 2008 IB&C)
Card stock:  Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Cameo Coral (retired), Very Vanilla, and Chocolate Chip
Old Olive Designer Series Paper (2010 edition)
Punches: 5 petal flower (retired) Scallop Circle, 3/4" Circle
Ink and Markers: Groovy Guava, Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke.
Also used: Tim Holtz's Tiny Attacher

Just a quick note to let you know that while I am still an active Independent Demonstrator with Stampin' Up, I have let my website www.creativeflare.stampinup.net lapse for the time being.  Due to some minor flood damage to my home I've had to pack up my tools, etc. and wait for repairs, which has taken longer than expected.  I am still taking orders, just not blogging or teaching classes right now.

All the best,
Kristine
creativeflarecards@gmail.com

This is so practical!  I'm excited to get mine for Christmas Card season.

Thought for the day... sympathy and insight

Ever had one of those days?  This is the card for that day...

Supplies available from www.creativeflare.stampinup.net

Stamp set:  Trust God (w#132094, c#126702)

Ink:  Basic Black

Card Stock:  Raspberry Ripple, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Modern Medley Designer Series Paper (birds and backing label)

Tools:  Big Shot Die Cutting Machine (113439), Labels Collection Framelits (125598), Hearts Collection Framelits (125599), Modern Mosaic Embossing Folder (129984), Petals a Plenty Embossing Folders (116824),  2-1/2" Circle Punch (120906),  Decorative Label (120907).

Peace!