Friday, June 25, 2021

Stamp Off Birds and Branches in Soft Pastels


 Welcome to another Stamp Off Challenge with Susan,
Buffy and me.  Today, we are using our new, SU Soft
Pastels Assortment, found on page 126.


I decided to use Birds & Branches stamp set on page 108,
with the coordinating Birds & More Dies (page 162).  I wanted to
try something with the two step stamping process.  Hopefully
as you can see, everything on this card is colored with the Pastels,
except for the first layer of the bird.

I rubbed blue Pastel across the background and then stamped the
branch with VersaMark.  I used a dauber to apply Mossy Meadow.
I repeated this process on the sentiment.
On a separate piece of card stock, I stamped the bird background
in Daffodil Delight.  Then I inked the detailed bird stamp in
VersaMark and stamped it on to the bird.  Finally, I used 
sponge daubers to add the Poppy Parade and Mossy Meadow
Soft Pastels to the bird.


I cut out the focal image with a die from the Ornate Layers
on page 164.  Finally, I attached the bird with dimensional and 
layered everything on the card base.  

Thank you for stopping by for our challenge.
Please click on over to see the lovely cards created by
Buffy and Susan!  


Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Hand-Penned Petals Bundle


 
You will continue to see samples from the Hand-Penned
Petals Bundle (set on page 105, dies on page 159).
It is so attractive, enabling you to make those
WOW cards with relative ease.

In this example, I stamped the set, stamped the colors on
the petals and then cut out the flower cluster.  Next, I took the
outline die and cut out a gold foil detail overlay.   It was 
glued over the flowers and set aside while I used a Blender
Brush to add some color to the background.  The white
background layer was run through the Subtles 3d Embossing
Folder (retired).  I layered everything on to some gold foil
and a Pale Papaya card base.

 
I've been busy harvesting and processing my cherries.  My two
little cherry trees are COVERED and have been picked at 
least 6 times.   I pick 4-6 pounds of cherries each time.  
I have been heating the cherries with a bit of water, to help
them release their juice.  Then I simply mash them with a
potato ricer and pour the juice into a bell jar.  I am adamant about not adding any sugar or "polluting" my fruit with other ingredients.
My freezer is  getting pretty packed, but it will be delightful to have cherry juice for the coming months.





Monday, June 21, 2021

Penned Flowers Stencil with Art Gallery


 This wasn't the plan for this card, but I like the way it
ended up.  I think that we need to call this process
Creative Drift.

I had a die cut from the Penned Flowers dies (page 159) out 
and was going to use it as a focal point or frame for a sentiment.  
As I looked at it, it occurred to me that it would make a dandy
stencil for a card background.  I used a blending brush to 
blend the die cut image on to a piece of Pale Papaya.  I filled the
entire layer and also blended the edges.

The sentiment comes from the Art Gallery set (page 13)
and was cut out with the coordinating Floral Gallery Die.
I tried to add ribbon or linen thread behind the sentiment,
but just didn't like the look.  I did like the Mossy Meadow
fern from the Field Flowers dies (page 160) layered
behind the sentiment.  I finished off the card by adding some
Genial gems and layering it on a Very Vanilla card base.


I glued the die cut that I used as a stencil,
to the inside of the card.